The Schnitzer Steel fire sent massive pillars of black smoke into the Cassidy sky for much of Sept. 11. (submitted/BC Aviation)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

investigation

No official cause found for massive Schnitzer Steel fire

Sep 23, 2020 | 5:53 AM

NANAIMO — Investigators couldn’t determine the cause of the large Schnitzer Steel fire which required more than one dozen fire departments to put it out.

Colin Kelly, director of public affairs with Schnitzer Steel, told NanaimoNewsNOW an independent fire investigator classified the cause of the fire as “undetermined.”

Kelly said the investigator couldn’t dig deep enough into the cause since so much scrap metal was moved in the Schnitzer Steel yard to extinguish the blaze.

The fire raged for much of Friday, Sept. 11, sending columns of black smoke into the air above Cassidy for much of the day.

Roughly 15 fire departments from across the mid-island attended the blaze. They were forced to use water trucks and a helicopter since there’s no water hydrants in the area.

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Kelly said Schnitzer Steel proactively implemented fire risk control prevention and response measures at all of its North American facilities.

Despite the measures, this was not the first major fire on Schnitzer Steel property.

A barge in the Fraser River caught fire twice in the fall of 2018. No official cause was found in both instances.

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