Three-alarm fi re in a Port Morris
recycling warehouse injures fi ve
Firefi ghters enter the burning facility at 900 E. 136th Street. FDNY
BY ALEX MITCHELL
A massive three-alarm
fi re ravished a recycling
plant at 900 E. 136th Street
in Port Morris during the
overnight hours of Thursday,
June 27.
Five out of the 138 responding
FDNY members suffered
non-life threatening injuries
while combatting the thick
smoke and high fl ames at Parallel
Products recycling facility.
Three employees were inside
the burning facility and
were each evacuated safely by
rescue workers according to
the FDNY.
The fi re fi rst ignited just after
midnight as fi refi ghters entered
the long warehouse from
its Walnut Avenue side, using
a large scale-loading door for
access to run hose lines into
the plant.
The smoke was thick to the
point that anything past that
expansive doorway was essentially
too murky to see beyond
for fi rst responders.
The blaze had gotten to the
level that fi refi ghters placed
two fans within the doorway’s
entrance to aid in the operation.
By 2 a.m. fi refi ghters utilized
Ladder Truck 29 to obtain
roof access into the plant
through its East 136th Street
side access.
FDNY members entered
the roof through a small cutaway
above a separate, closed
warehouse door to a section of
the roof that was in between
two taller sections of the facility.
The front of the building,
where rescue workers were
entering through the heavy
smoke, was constructed of
brick while further back, towards
Locust Avenue, the
walls were made of composite
materials.
Drone footage showed
FDNY members operating
atop the facility’s roof, fi ghting
through blinding smoke generated
Firefi ghters enter the facility’s roof using Ladder 29 on East 136th Street. FDNY Engine 58 engulfed in smoke outside of the plan’s truck loading dock. FDNY
BRONX TIMES R 30 EPORTER, JULY 5-11, 2019 BTR
by the intense fl ames
that was barreling from down
below.
FDNY offi cials believe the
fi re began in the building’s
ceiling.
The department also said
that the smoke had become so
intense at points during the
operation that fi refi ghters had
to regroup and call for backup
to put out the blaze.
In total, 33 units were involved
in dousing the fl ames.
Finally, the FDNY did get
the fi re under control at 4:07
a.m.
The Parallel Products recycling
facility that was engulfed
handles mostly aluminum,
plastic and glass containers
and recycles an estimated 1.2
billion items per year.
The company also handles
fl ammable recyclables like
new beverage containers, fi -
berglass, fi ber, carpet, clothing,
food packaging in addition
to other recycled-content
products.
The cause of the fi re was
determined to be a faulty electrical
panel.