Thick smoke permeated the air late Monday (July 21) night into the early hours of Tuesday as a garbage fire burned at a Victoria recycling yard.
Victoria Fire Department was originally called out for a structure fire near Bay and Bridge streets, but quickly realized they were dealing with a garbage fire, the city confirmed.
People reported smelling and seeing smoke across Victoria and south Saanich well beyond midnight.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Victoria Fire Department Chief Dan Atkinson said the department received 40 calls to 911 in which they responded with five firefighting apparatus and 18 firefighters at around 10 p.m.
He said responders knocked the fire down quickly, however due to the fire being concentrated in piles of garbage and recycling, they required heavy machinery to move trash around, and crews were on site well into Tuesday ensuring the fire was fully out.
"It was a very spectacular fire, but fortunately not one with any sort of long-term or lasting effects," said Atkinson.
No injures were reported and there was no structural damage to the business, but Atkinson said it's tough to determine what the cause of the fire could be.
"When we're dealing with recyclables, garbage, and things of that nature, it's really, really difficult to determine the point of origin," he said. "To determine what may have been the cause of fire, it could have been a number of different things. It could have been anything from an improperly discarded battery, improperly disposed smoking materials, perhaps rags with oil on them, something of that nature."
Due to the smoke, the department worked with the Victoria Police Department and Island Health to notify neighbours to close windows and intake vents to mitigate any potential health risks.
"We tried to mitigate (the smoke) as much as possible, but yeah, stinky fire for sure," he joked.
