If you were anywhere in northwest Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, you probably saw it: a thick column of black smoke rising from a scrapyard near the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds and spreading across the sky. Motorists and neighbors flooded in reports as fire crews moved on the scrapyard near Northwest 10th Street and May Avenue, where a towering plume loomed over nearby neighborhoods. Officials have not yet confirmed what sparked the blaze or how large it is, and no injuries have been reported publicly so far.
Officials and traffic feeds
According to KOCO 5, Oklahoma City Fire Department officials told the station they were working a fire at a scrapyard near Northwest 10th Street and May Avenue. KOCO’s live video and newsroom updates showed a dark column of smoke from state traffic cameras, and the station reported that both the size and cause of the fire were still unknown. Crews were expected to release more details as they became available.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation camera feed at OK Traffic showed a dense, dark column of smoke near the fairgrounds that appeared to create visibility problems for drivers on nearby arterials. Traffic slowed on routes approaching the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds while emergency crews worked the scene, and authorities urged drivers to avoid the immediate area. Skipping roadside stops and keeping a safe distance allows first responders to move more freely and cuts down on extra hazards from people trying to grab a closer look.
Scrapyard and recycling-plant fires have sent up similar plumes around the metro in recent months, tangling traffic and raising air-quality concerns for residents. KOCO 5 has previously covered large recycling-plant fires that forced crews to shuttle water and bring in hazmat teams. In those incidents, local officials typically advised people with respiratory conditions to stay inside or limit time outdoors whenever visible smoke drifted through their neighborhoods…