Fire involves 30 vehicles

A fire broke out early Tuesday in the storage yard at Pacific Recycling, engulfing about 30 scrapped vehicles.

Firefighters were dispatched to the scene at about 2:50 a.m.

“It didn’t spread beyond the recycling yard but there was pretty good fire involvement,” Evergreen Fire Chief Craig Williams said. “It probably would have stopped traffic had it been in the daytime. A lot of tires were burning and putting off that black smoke.”

Williams said there was no significant property loss because the burned vehicles were headed for recycling. The cause of the fire is undetermined.

Pacific Recycling staff had to assist firefighters, using heavy equipment to clear access to the area that was on fire.

The firefighting effort took about two hours, and involved the help of Kalilspell, Whitefish and South Kalispell fire departments.