WACO, Texas — UPDATE (Oct. 10, 2022): Monday evening, Oct. 10, the Waco Fire Department responded to a call about a large commercial fire near Imperial Drive.
Firefighters were responding to another call when were dispatched to the fire, and were reportedly on the scene less than a minute after the call was placed.
The fire took place at the Sunbright Recycling Plant at 701-A Texas Central Parkway, where large piles of material were ablaze. The department upgraded the fire to a 2nd Alarm soon after.
A 2nd Alarm fire is one that requires multiple vehicles, equipment, and personnel to handle, but is not considered catastrophic.
Lt. Keith Guillory of the Waco Fire Department said that units responded to the fire at 6:43 p.m., and that 15 units were on the scene at the time of his statement, including multiple vehicles and chief officers. Later on that number would increase to about 45 personnel.
Kendal Hobby, the General Manager at Sunbright Recycling, stated that he did not know how the fire started, but he did know that it started outside the building. Hobby also said that everyone was out of the building.
"The plant manager has been on the scene most of the evening and working with us," said Robby Bergerson, executive deputy chief for Waco Fire. "They're helping us right now with some heavy equipment to try to pull some of these paper products and piles apart. It's going to be an extensive overhaul operation."
One firefighter was reportedly taken to the hospital for exhaustion injuries, but no other injuries have been reported.
According to the fire department, the large fire left lots of debris of burnt recycling materials. The fire also burned around half an acre of brush after it jumped the property line of the recycling plant.
"It's just gonna take a while to pull all this product apart," Bergerson said. "There's a lot of cardboard boxes that are bound together and a lot of piles of product to be recycled so plastic bottles and paper."
As of now, the Fire Department has said that the fire is under control, although they are still monitoring the scene.
Bergerson said Hewitt Fire Department covered a Waco Fire station for some time Monday evening as the fire at Sunbright Paper Recycling facility took a lot of manpower.
Any further information will be reported as it becomes available.
Original Story: The Waco Fire Department is currently reporting that they are responding to a large fire along Imperial Drive.
Sources say that the fire is at Sunbright Recycling. The fire has been upgraded to a 2nd alarm by the Waco FD. Large piles of material are reportedly on fire at the scene.
According to Lt. Keith Guillory of the Waco Fire Department, units responded to the fire at 6:43 p.m. They were reportedly out on another call and were able to respond within one minute.
15 units are reportedly on scene combatting the blaze, including chief officers. According to Guillory, the fire is still very active.
Kendal Hobby, General Manager at Sunbright Recycling, says that the fire started on the outside. He does not know how the fire started, but reports that everyone is out.
The situation is ongoing, and updates will given as more information becomes available.