Battle Creek Metal Recycling Business Damaged After Fire, Explosion

An accident at a metal recycling facility in Battle Creek led to a large explosion Monday.

The Battle Creek Fire Department says that they were called just before 2:30pm Monday to Great Lakes Recycling on Raymond Rd, on reports of a 300 gallon above ground tank catching fire. As fire crews arrived, an explosion was seen inside a nearby building, which sparked a fire inside.

The explosion prompted a large scale response with around 20 firefighters and 5 trucks arriving at the scene, and they worked with water and firefighting foam to put out the structure and gas fires; they did get the scene under control in around an hour, with no injuries reported.

Around $5500 in damage was done, and two "salvage vehicles" were involved in the fire.

The fire remains under investigation, and the Fire Marshal was called in to look into it; the BCFD’s report indicates it might have been a spark from a cutting torch that started it.