About half of the Little Rock Fire Department's force spent hours fighting a fire at Goldman Logistics warehouse near Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field on Tuesday night, Fire Chief Delphone Hubbard said.
The recycling warehouse at East 14th Street and Bond Avenue was in flames when firefighters were called about 5 p.m., fire Capt. Jason Weaver said. Dark smoke was visible for miles as at least 10 fire engines and four trucks were used to fight the flames.
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LRFD Battles Fire at Recycling Company
Little Rock Firefighters battle a fire that started at Goldman Recycling and has spread to other buildings on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, in Little Rock.
According to an airport spokesman, the smoke, which was detectable on National Weather Service radar, did not affect operations at the airport.
As of about 6 p.m., Weaver said the fire was being contained to the property and didn't seem at risk of spreading to any nearby businesses, such as adjacent beer distributor, Golden Eagle of Arkansas.
"Golden Eagle was able to move a lot of their vehicles inside of the building and secure the building so that the smoke wasn't blowing in," Weaver said.
Hubbard said it is possible one of the distributor's vehicles received some heat damage at the start of the fire.
Propane tanks from forklifts inside the warehouse began exploding shortly after firefighters arrived, Weaver said.
Recycled plastic material around the building would likely keep the blaze going for about five to six hours, Weaver said.
"We have it surrounded, and they are stopping the fire all the way around," he said. "It shouldn't spread any farther, but it is going to be really hard to get those plastics put out. It is going to take a lot of water to get those put out."
Hubbard said mutual aid agreements with surrounding municipalities, such as North Little Rock and Benton, had been initiated to help the Fire Department respond to any other calls in the city.
No one was injured in the fire, Weaver said.