A section of Route 82 approaching Route 7 was closed for several hours this afternoon for a persistent fire in an open-top truck trailer carrying scrap metal.
“We had a heck of a time until we got an elevated stream over top of it,” said Brookfield Fire Chief David Masirovits.
The department had its ladder truck brought in and fed it with water from the East Side Tanker Shuttle, a consortium of fire departments with tanker trucks that bring water to a scene.
The trailer was layered with scrap metal collected by scrap metal processor Metalico with three cars on top of it to hold the scrap down, Masirovits said. “It was three cars that were burning, along with all the scrap metal.”
Metals such as magnesium, aluminum, sodium, titanium and zinc will burn under the right conditions.
Firefighters believe the fire was started by a lithium battery, probably from a kids’ scooter. Lithium batteries can spontaneously combust, Masirovits said.
“Lithium batteries, we used our foam that we have for that, but we weren’t sure exactly where the lithium battery was at in there, if there was even one to begin with,” Masirovits said. “We weren’t sure where to direct our foam streams to.”
The driver of the truck unhitched the trailer from the tractor and drove the tractor away from the fire.
The fire raged hot and gave off a thick gray smoke. “We’re figuring probably 20,000 gallons of water (was used) on it,” Masirovits said.
A popping sound probably was from exploding airbag cylinders in the cars, the chief said.
The tanker shuttle was activated because the closest hydrant, across Route 82 by Parkway Drive, was not good, he said.
Firefighters from Hubbard, Vienna and Burghill Vernon were called in to help fight the fire.
“The complications were manpower, weather, temperature and water supply,” Masirovits said.
