There should be more fire inspections at salvage yards and other sites that store tires, according to the co-owner of the province's only tire-recycling facility.
Dan Chassie, president and co-owner of Halifax C and D Recycling Ltd., says tire fires like the one last Tuesday in Upper Rawdon, N.S., can be avoided with greater scrutiny, and if people follow the national fire code.
"I don't think we need anything new; I think we need enforcement," says Chassie, whose business recycles more than 1.2 million tires each year.
The fire at Country Hills Auto Sales and Recycled Parts involved about 1,000 tires and took 15 fire departments more than seven hours to extinguish.
But it doesn't look like more enforcement is going to happen any time soon. The Municipality of East Hants is responsible for fire inspections within its borders, and has no plans to increase their frequency.
"I'm not sure if more inspections would have prevented it," says Jody MacArthur, the communications officer for the municipality.
The scrapyard was inspected in July 2015 and was found to be in compliance with fire regulations. The site was set to be inspected again next year.
As far as MacArthur knows, there are no plans to change the way East Hants handles its fire inspections, although the community's fire inspector is meeting with the provincial Office of the Fire Marshal to determine if any changes are needed.
Danny McCulloch, the owner of the scrapyard, believes the fire may have been started after he created some sparks while chopping up a car.
The national fire code has strict rules around storing tires. Tires stored outside can only be piled up to three metres, but can be spread out in an area covering 1,000 square metres — an area about two times the size of a basketball court.
The tires also need to be kept about 15 metres away from buildings and must be clear of ignition sources, according to Fred Jeffers, the province's fire marshal. The tire pile also must be organized to give firefighters easy access should a fire start.
Jeffers says if the regulations are followed, the risk of a tire fire is relatively low.
"It's not like we're having a tire fire every week," he says.
As for the tire pile at Country Hills Auto Sales and Recycled Parts, Jeffers says from what he's seen and heard, the pile was within regulations.
Jeffers agrees with Chassie and says following the fire code is the best way to avoid tire fires.
"The big thing is if they make sure they are storing the materials in conformance with the code, that's a big help right there," he said. "It keeps things separated, it keeps the pile smaller so they don't have to dig down as far. In this case if that pile had been a lot higher, they would have had much more of a challenge to try and get down."
For Chassie's business, the code didn't go far enough.
Halifax C and D Recycling takes used tires, shreds them and turns them into what's called tire-derived aggregate. That material can be used for a variety of purposes, including making a substitute for gravel.
Chassie built concrete bins to store whole tires and shredded tires to better contain fires should they break out.
All tire materials are stored an even greater distance away from buildings than required in the national fire code.
Chassie also has a stockpile of F-500 Encapsulator Agent, a chemical that absorbs heat energy from a fire. It rapidly cools a blaze and encases fuel so it won't burn.
Having the agent on hand is important for Chassie's peace of mind because it helps put out tire fires faster than water or foam.
"The big thing is that it's cool," he said. "Once that fire is out, it's out. The heat ... you can pick up a tire that was just on fire. And we've seen it demonstrated. We've trained our staff to use it and we've paid the price to have storage."
So far Chassie's precautions seemed to have paid off. There has never been a fire at his recycling plant.