OAKLAND — A fire on a conveyor belt at a controversy-ridden West Oakland recycling plant Wednesday morning sent clouds of dark smoke into the air but caused no injuries, authorities said.
The fire started about 10 a.m. Wednesday at Radius Recycling, formerly known as Schnitzer Steel, at 1101 Embarcadero West.
The fire was on a conveyor belt moving recyclable materials for shredding, fire officials said. The fire was kept to a single-alarm response and brought some 30 firefighters to the scene.
Fire department spokesman Michael Hunt said firefighters were aided by the facility’s fire suppression system, which had already begun dousing the fire with water and foam before firefighters responded,
Hunt said smoke from the fire dissipated quickly and there was no need for a hazardous materials response.
The fire was declared under control at 10:49 a.m.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. A damage figure was not available.
There have been other fires over the years at the facility, which first opened in 1965, including a massive blaze in 2023 that prompted a civil lawsuit from environmentalists.
The Oakland A’s baseball team has also joined the fray in court and in the state legislature pushing for an environmental crackdown on the facility.
It was rebranded as Radius Recycling in 2023 and was sold last year to a Japanese auto conglomerate for $1.3 billion.
Staff writer Shomik Mukherjee contributed to this report.