MONTVILLE, Conn. — Crews from several towns are on the scene of a scrap yard fire in Montville Tuesday morning.
The fire is at 33 Pequot Road, which is the address of Connecticut Scrap. The business covers several acres.
A woman who lived on Pequot Road said this is the second massive fire she has seen in the last two years. The last one took up to six hours to clear and this time, the road closures caused quite a headache for school buses early this morning.
"The buses couldn't get the kids this morning, so mine stayed home because I couldn't get them there because of the hose, so I stayed home from work as well," said Kerry Dougherty of Montville.
Officials said crews from more than 20 departments including Preston, North Stonington and Franklin are on the scene to fight the fire. Crews are expected to be on the scene throughout the evening.
Smoke traveled to East Lyme and Waterford.
When firefighters arrived, they found the scrapyard pile which was approximately 60 feet high, fully engulfed in flames.
"There's hydrants close by, but right now we're using tanker operations more than anything. The biggest challenge is the metal pile, the fire's very deep in the pile," said Fire Marshal Paul Barnes of the Montville Volunteer Fire Department.
Luckily, Barnes said no firefighters were injured but what they found to be the issue is the size of the pile. With it being so big, it was tough for firefighters to get to the seed of it.
Their moves were met with caution since there were propane tanks underneath.
"Car parts, automobiles, just the metal itself, so it's mostly petroleum," said Rich Scalora, DEEP Emergency Response Supervisor.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is on scene monitoring air quality. They asked people in the area to keep windows closed and not use their HVAC systems.
"Make sure that everything in the atmosphere is safe for the people in and around the area, so that we can confirm that they're in clean air," added Scalora.
A similar fire broke out two years ago.
The fire started around 6:15 a.m.
There are no hydrants in the area, and water has to be brought in with tankers.
The Fire Marshal says so far, there is no cause of the fire but since this is the second time it has happened, he plans to look into the root cause to ensure this does not happen a third time.
Doug Stewart is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
Carmen Chau is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at cchau@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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This is a developing story.