After working into the early morning hours Wednesday, firefighters finally extinguished a fire at a St. John auto salvage yard.
Schererville Assistant Fire Chief David Meyer said Wednesday firefighters worked through much of the night to put out the blaze at Stan’s Auto Salvage, 7967 U.S. 41, finally extinguishing it around 3:30 a.m. They were called back to the scene around 7:45 a.m., when the fire flared up again, he said.
The Schererville Fire Department received a call of a large fire at Stan’s around 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, Meyer said. When firefighters arrived, they found 3,000 scrap vehicles engulfed in flames, the glow of which could be seen from U.S. 30.
“They were stacked in there four or five deep,” Meyer said. “Some employees were out here moving what they could out of the way.”
The department brought out several of its aerial rigs to combat the blaze, while others were used to shuttle water to the scene because of the fire’s location, Meyer said. A witness saw firefighters refiling a truck from a hydrant near 77th and U.S. 41.
Because there are only two fire hydrants in the fire’s proximity, other fire departments arrived on the scene with water, Meyer said.
Another witness, who declined to give his name, said he could hear “popping” coming from the scene. He attributed that to vehicle gas tanks or perhaps tires exploding from the heat.
Meyer said the department hadn’t called in the Lake County Hazardous Material Team, but one of its trucks was monitoring the air. There were neither evacuations from the area nor any injuries from the fire.
Meyer said the fire’s cause was under investigation, and no damage estimates were available.
The St. John, Griffith, Crown Point, Merrillville, Cedar Lake, Lake Hills and Lake Ridge Fire Departments assisted Schererville with putting out the fire, Meyer said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.