Tire plant fire burning off Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway; voluntary evacuations

A fire is currently burning at Arizona Rubber Recycling Co. along the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway.

According to Maricopa Fire Department division chief/investigator Mark Boys, the call came in shortly before 2:30 p.m.

As of 4 p.m., Boys said, “We’re starting to get some containment on it and keeping it away from the structures. Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is advising us to put out a general advisory, which we have, for a voluntary evacuation of the areas to the immediate south of the fire. The voluntary evacuations are for people in the area who may have respiratory ailments and may be experiencing difficulties. Those people can go to Maricopa High School where paramedics are on stand by. ADEQ at this time does not believe there is any immediate danger to life.”

Boys told inmaricopa.com earlier that the preliminary information is that there were multiple agencies and units on the scene. “Ak-Chin, Gila River, Maricopa and Casa Grande units are on the scene, and we’re in an area that is very limited as far as water resources,” Boys said. “Water is definitely an issue at this point.”

Boys is advising people to avoid the roads to the north of Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and also to the east of Maricopa.

Boys noted that as of 3 p.m., there were no injuries reported.

“Employees at the facility were evacuated,” Boys said. He added that one concern is if there is a wind change.

“Our goal now is to get the smoke plume down,” Boys noted. “We expect the fire to be burning for quite a few days at this point. Tire fires are petroleum-based and we have to take the oxygen away from this fire.”

Photos by Amy Jamieson, Jerod Maberry, Jay Brustad