Red Wing Incinerator is BURNING!!!
June 7th, 2017
So I see this notice, and run downstairs, “Alan, we’ve got to move!” and we hustled over to the “Solid Waste Campus,” and at the Bench Street intersection, waiting for the light, a fire truck comes roaring up, I quick take a left and scoot over to the right to let them through, it’s Lake City. Yeah, this must be some “active emergency fire situation.” And sure enough, I pulled over, got out, and got a few shots until I was shooed away. This is what we first saw, just as the sun was setting, about 9:15 p.m.:
KTTC from Rochester was there too, and here’s their report:
Fire breaks out in Red Wing incinerator
Posted: Jun 07, 2017 9:47 PM CST
And on WCCO:
I think it was still burning when we got there, for sure it was smoking intensely. There was smoke coming out of the roof on the east side, and they sawed at least two holes in the roof in the middle of the north side, and they opened up the big “incoming” door for offloading trucks and were dragging metal out with a front end loader, and then spraying inside, digging, spraying, digging. and given that the inside was massive piles of garbage, it’ll likely take a long time to burn out or be put out. The building has got to be a total loss, the new garbage grinder too, no word, but I’m betting. Rick Moskwa looked pretty grim tonight as he headed from the site around the tanning factory building to the parking lot.
The incinerator was shut down a couple years ago now, and the old garbage grinder… BURNED… so they got a brand new fancy schmancy one using Minnesota’s Renewable Development Fund to buy it, and the grind up the garbage and ship it down a couple miles to the other side of Red Wing to burn it in the Xcel Energy garbage burner. Now look at this mess… their brand new grinder has got to be damaged, if not destroyed.
The incinerator burns… AGAIN… right, maybe this will get the message through, no garbage burning in Red Wing. ZERO WASTE! We need to take steps toward this now and make it happen.
And from Red Wing Fire Department ~ 10 a.m. 6/8/2017:
For Immediate Release
Thursday, June 08, 2017
Contact: Shannon Draper, Chief
Red Wing Fire Department
651.388.7141
Incident Date: June 7, 2017
Incident Time: 19:49 (7:49pm)
Incident Address: 1873 Bench Street, Red Wing, MN 55066
Alarm level: 4 Alarms
Resources on scene: 8 Engines, 3 Ladders, 2 Tenders, 5 Ambulances, 1 Battalion Chief and 3 Chief Officers. Total of 70 Firefighters on sceneRed Wing fire department received a call of smoke coming from the Red Wing city waste campus building. Units arrived on scene confirming a working fire and upgraded the fire call to a 1st alarm. Upon entering, the building crews encounter heavy fire condition in the tipping room area. Due to the amount of material and equipment in the building, the fire quickly grew and eventually involved 40% of the 36,000sqft building.
Fire was declared under control at 22:30 (10:30pm). Crews remained on scene working to overhaul the large building, looking for hot spots and putting out small fires until 01:10 (1:10am).
The building sustained major damage and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Red Wing Fire Department wants to thank our mutual aid departments for assisting during this emergency.
• Ellsworth Fire
• Cannon Falls Fire
• Zumbrota Ambulance
• Lake City Fire
• Goodhue Fire
• Red Wing Police Department.The mission of the Red Wing Fire Department is to enhance the safety and security of the community by providing cost effective protection of life and property, through fire prevention, public education, fire suppression and emergency medical care.
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