- Salt Lake City fire crews battled a three-alarm fire at a recycling facility that started in a storage area.
- The fire produced thick black smoke visible from I-80 and Redwood Road.
SALT LAKE CITY — Investigators have determined that a fire at a recycling facility on Salt Lake's west side originated in an exterior storage area, fire officials said Wednesday.
Crews spent a portion of Tuesday afternoon and evening battling a three-alarm structure fire at METech Recycling near 369 S. Orange Street.
A large plume of smoke from the fire could be seen from across the Salt Lake Valley, from nearby I-80 and Redwood Road and from as far away as Davis County, according to Salt Lake City Fire Capt. Chad Jepperson.
He said crews arrived at the industrial area, where several warehouses are stationed, around 3 p.m. to find the building fully engulfed in flames.
After hours of response by dozens of firefighters from multiple agencies, crews successfully extinguished the fire.
"The successful outcome of the fire attack was made possible through quick notification, effective fire suppression systems, building construction features, and the aggressive, coordinated efforts of responding firefighters," the Salt Lake City Fire Department said in an update on Wednesday.
After 5.5 hours of work, SLCFD Incident Command has called a "Loss Stopped", marking the end of danger to the public, damage to the property, and the transition of fire fighting operations to Fire Watch. SLCFD crews will take turns monitoring the scene through the night.
— Salt Lake City Fire Department (@slcfire) May 20, 2026
Jepperson said no one was injured and officials don't suspect anyone was inside the building at the time the fire broke out.
"There is still a considerable amount of smoke that's going to continue until we get everything on the outside completely extinguished," he said Tuesday.
Orange Street was closed for a time while fire crews remained on scene, and the public was urged to avoid the area due to heavy smoke.
"We've got a lot of people slowing down to look at the incident — that doesn't really help out anybody," Jepperson said. "If you can avoid the area, please avoid the area; there's no real reason to be over here and expose yourself to this stuff."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
