No one injured in recycling center fire near Sterling

STERLING – No injuries were reported in connection with a large fire that broke out June 15 outside the Cimco Recycling Center.

Fifteen fire departments, one from as far away as Clinton, Iowa, assisted in fighting the blaze that broke out in an outside pile of recycling remnants and took four hours to extinguish.

The Sterling Fire Department was dispatched shortly after 8 a.m. to the recycling center at 13509 Galt Road, Sterling, for a report of an outside fire. Twin-Com Dispatch then received more information that this was a large fire threatening structures at the recycling center.

Rock Falls firefighters and CGH EMS were added to the response as part of the automatic aid agreements between the departments, according to a news release issued by Sterling Fire Department Deputy Chief David Northcutt. A mutual aid box alarm was issued, he said.

Arriving crews found the large “fluff pile,” which is made up of remnants of what is left from crushing and shredding materials, on fire, with flames threatening nearby structures. Additional alarms were issued for mutual aid response.

About 30 minutes after firefighters arrived, the structures no longer were threatened by fire. It took another four hours to completely extinguish the fire, according to the release. Cimco employees used cranes and heavy equipment to assist with extinguishing the fire.