A fire at a South Carolina recycling plant so massive the smoke plume appeared on weather radar has been brought under control but it could be days before it is extinguished, Sumter fire officials said.
The fire started around 10 p.m. Tuesday at Howell’s Recyclable Materials, Sumter Fire Department Division Chief Joey Duggan said.
Sumter firefighters got help from firefighters from nearby Shaw Air Force Base and from Columbia, some 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the recycling center.
No one was injured in the fire, authorities said.
It took most of the night to get the fire under control, and specialized equipment and plenty of work will be needed to put out the fire still burning and smoldering in the materials waiting to be recycled, Duggan told media outlets.
“We're just going to have to spend a lot of time and water to continue to extinguish it," Duggan said.
Sumter Police posted on Twitter an aerial video of the building with smoke still pouring out Wednesday morning.
The building housed the VB Williams Furniture Plant for decades before the recycling business took over the site.