A towering column of black smoke rose over central Phoenix on Saturday after a fire broke out inside a recycling yard near McDowell Road, prompting fire crews to upgrade their response to a second alarm as the blaze grew in size and spread. No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire remained unclear.
Fire crews were dispatched around 9:15 a.m. for reports of a debris fire, according to ABC15 Arizona, which reported that crews arriving on scene found a large fire with heavy smoke pouring from inside the recycling yard near 19th Avenue and McDowell Road. The outlet reported that the Phoenix Fire Department later obtained control of the blaze. A separate report from azfamily.com placed the fire at AIM Recycling on McDowell Road near 22nd Avenue, a discrepancy in location that has not been resolved between the two accounts.
The station described the smoke as initially black before turning gray once firefighters began spraying water on the flames. Due to the size and spread of the fire, officials upgraded the response to a second alarm, pulling in additional crews and equipment to get the blaze under control.
No Injuries, But Cause Still Unknown
Despite the scale of the smoke plume visible across central Phoenix, no injuries were reported in connection with the fire, azfamily.com noted. The cause remains under investigation, with both the triggering spark and the extent of any damage to the recycling facility left unaddressed in the available reporting.
This is not the first time a Phoenix recycling or scrap operation has sent smoke billowing over the Valley. In March, a fire at a recycling yard also sent smoke across Phoenix, according to the same azfamily.com, though details on that earlier blaze remain limited.
A Pattern of Fires at Valley Recycling Sites
Phoenix-area recycling facilities have seen a string of serious fires in recent years. On May 22, crews responded to a four-alarm fire at a recycling plant near Downtown Phoenix, according to FOX 10 Phoenix, which reported that blaze was also located near 22nd Avenue and McDowell Road. Fire officials told the station that exploding magnesium caused spot fires during that incident, and HAZMAT crews were called in to evaluate the scene — details specific to that earlier fire, not Saturday's incident.
Separately, a prior fire at the Arizona Pacific Pulp and Paper recycling plant was described as a three-alarm blaze, according to abc15.com, which reported it was the second such fire at that facility within two years, with the cause still under investigation. Years earlier, in December 2018, a scrap-yard fire near 19th Avenue and McDowell Road was reported as isolated to a single pile of debris at a larger yard, per abc15.com's earlier coverage of that incident.
As with Saturday's fire, the pattern underscores how quickly blazes at Valley recycling and scrap operations can generate large smoke plumes visible for miles, even when the underlying cause takes time to determine.
