Crews continue to fight to stop Minto, N.B. tire fire

Crews continue fight to stop Minto tire fire Officials are assessing the environmental impact of the fire in Minto, N.B. CTV's Eilish Bonang reports.

MINTO, N.B. — Dark plumes of smoke are still filling the sky over Minto, N.B., as a large tire fire continues to burn. Firefighters continued their tireless efforts to snuff out stubborn flames that are wrecking havoc on this tire recycling plant, and the village of Minto itself.

Officials say they’re switching strategy in fighting the fire, hoping now to smother the flames and clear the air.

“It’s very difficult to suppress, based on its hydrophobic nature,” says New Brunswick Fire Marshal Michael Lewis. “Even inside the building, it was the same material, so it was very challenging on the inside of the building, but they’ve been successful on that front.”

Roughly ten different fire departments are still battling the blaze almost 48 hours after it began early Saturday morning.

There is still no word on what caused the fire, as the focus remains on stopping it.

“What we have access to now, and what we’re implementing is a strategy in which we’re considering smothering the fire with considerable quantities of sand, so we are bringing in fairly sizeable volumes, and we’re going to begin to push that over some areas of the fire,” explains Lewis.

With the fire now contained, concerns have shifted to worries over its impact on the environment.

“We are devising plans to treat this fire as best as we can by suppressing the smoke that’s being generated by the fire in the defense of the air quality, and we want to minimize the amount of water that’s being used going forward,” says Greg MacCallum of the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization.

New Brunswick’s Environment Minister say it’s still too early to assess the damage.

“We have inspectors on scene that are assessing the situation 24/7, and when it is safe for them to get on site and begin soil samples and water samples, then we’ll know more on the next steps on the environmental side,” says Jeff Carr, N.B. Minister of Environment.

Evan as several acres of tires continue to burn and toxic smoke continues to rise, officials say it could be worse.

“We’ve had good cooperation from mother nature so far,” says Greg MacCallum. “The plume hasn’t impacted a lot of the residential areas, but we continue to be very watchful of that.”

While officials say the application of sand on the areas that are still burning will help reduce the amount of smoke coming off the fire, the air quality advisory will still remain in effect for the surrounding area.

Officials continue to remind area residents to stay indoors with windows closed and to keep air exchanges turned off.