Massive fire burning at North Jacksonville tire recycling center could take days to extinguish

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Crews are working a large fire Tuesday morning at a tire recycling center in Eastport in North Jacksonville. City Councilmember Mike Gay who represents the area went to the fire location after seeing people talking about it on social media. He said the call came in around midnight at the facility, Atlantic Can recycling, 11985 Palm Lake Drive. Gay said it could take firefighters days to put out the blaze because there are no fire hydrants at the facility. Fire crews are having to pump water from a nearby apartment complex and drive it back to the fire, Gay said.

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department Capt. Eric Prosswimmer said the debris they’re trying to extinguish is spread throughout a three to four acre area. “We’re probably going to be here for awhile,” he said. “Every time we turn the water off it tends to flare right back up because of the heat that’s emitted.

“Rubber is a very difficult thing to extinguish, it burns very hot,” Prosswimmer said. “It produces a lot of black smoke.”

Prosswimmer said JFRD is revaluating its firefighting method on the blaze and will be deciding on whether to use foam.

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Fire at Jacksonville tire recycling center Crews working to put out a fire Tuesday morning at Atlantic Can tire recycling, 11985 Palm Lake Drive, Jacksonville.

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