No one injured in recycling center fire near Sterling – Shaw Local

STERLING — No injuries were reported in connection with a major fire that broke out Saturday morning outside the Cimco Recycling Center.

Fifteen fire departments, including one as far away as Clinton, Iowa, helped battle the fire, which started in an outdoor pile of recycling waste and took four hours to extinguish.

The Sterling Fire Department was dispatched shortly after 8 a.m. to the recycling center located at 13509 Galt Road in Sterling for a report of an exterior fire. Twin-Com Dispatch later received further information that it was in fact a large fire threatening the structures at the recycling center.

Rock Falls Fire and CGH EMS were later added to the response as part of 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.

Crews upon arrival found the large “lint pile,” made up of leftover crushed and shredded materials, on fire, with flames threatening nearby structures. Additional alarms were then sounded for the mutual aid response.

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