Firefighters battling massive blaze at recycling plant

EAST POINT, Ga. - Firefighters battled a massive blaze at a recycling plant in East Point well into Monday night.

The fire broke out Monday morning, just after 10 a.m. at Newell Recycling located in the 1300 block of Central Avenue. Fire officials told FOX 5 News there was a 30-foot pile of trash which fueled the large flames.

Longtime East Point residents Ricardo Tolbert and Jesse Hanks immediately thought of passed fires when they heard the sirens and saw the smoke Monday morning.

"As long as I have been over here, I have seen about 4 fires and a whole lot of explosions," Mr. Tolbert said.

"We saw a fire and an individual got killed over here before. They filed a lawsuit against them... $20Million dollar lawsuit and won," Mr. Banks recalled.

East Point fire officials battled the 4-alarm fire for more than 8 hours.

"There was a fire near the shredder. A shredder is a machine that crushes and shreds metal, East Point Fire PIO Renita Sheldon.

Much of the burning debris involved old cars, appliances, plywood and other scrap metal. Although the plant was open to employees on the job, no one was injured.

That was not the case back in 2011 when Newell employee Erik Hilario burned to death after being trapped on a loader.

East Point Fire officials called in the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Environment Protection Division to make sure run off and air quality remained acceptable.

College Park, Hapeville, and Hartsfield-Jackson International Fire Departments all sent units.