Fire breaks out at controversial Providence scrap metal yard. What we know.

PROVIDENCE – A spokesman for Mayor Brett Smiley says a fire Wednesday night at a controversial Allens Avenue scrapyard that sent thick plumes of smoke above the city underscored the importance of efforts to hold the business accountable.

Firefighters on Thursday morning were still at the scene of the fire that broke out late Wednesday night at Rhode Island Recycled Metals, a scrap metal operation that has been the focus of a long-running legal dispute with state authorities and a more recent one with the Smiley administration.

The city filed a cease-and-desist order to Recycled Metals a month ago after the company withdrew an application for a junk license that Providence officials say is required for it to remain in operation. The company has argued that it doesn't need the license and has stayed open while a Superior Court case filed by the city is pending.

"It is critical for the safety and public health of our neighbors that operations are ceased until this facility obtains all necessary licenses and that our colleagues at the state hold them accountable for the multiple matters that are squarely within their jurisdiction," Josh Estrella, a spokesman for Smiley, said in an email.

Patrick Sweeney, a spokesman for Recycled Metals, maintained that the company is not subject to the city license.

"We look forward to working with the City to find an amicable solution to this matter," he said.

Crews with the Providence Fire Department were called to the riverfront site of Recycled Metals at 11:35 p.m. Wednesday for a fire that had started in a 100-foot by 100-foot pile of scrap, according to Fire Chief Derek Silva.

He said they extinguished the majority of the fire overnight but were still at the property at 434 Allens Ave. in the morning, working with Recycled Metals employees to break apart the metal pile and ensure no material was still burning.

“We expect to be on scene for a few more hours,” Silva said in an email Thursday morning. “Fortunately, no one was injured.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said. Sweeney said that trespassers had to be removed from the Recycled Meetals property earlier Wednesday and that the company suspects that the fire was set intentionally.

While firefighters were battling the blaze, staff from the state Department of Environmental Management were called to the scene and determined that air pollution and runoff into the Providence River were not an issue, according to the agency.

"DEM found that there are no sheens or oil in the water and existing pollution controls - such as multiple hay booms on land and a hard boom in the water - are still in place," the agency said in a Facebook post. "The hard boom has contained some debris, mostly small pieces of Styrofoam and wood chips that might have washed over the hay boom due to fire suppression efforts."

The hay boom had also contained runoff from water used to suppress the fire, according to the post.

A nearby air monitor did not show elevated levels of small particulate matter or black carbon.

"Although all readings were typical for this location and time of day, DEM still is assessing impacts in the nearby neighborhoods," the agency said.

Scrap yard has been at the center of recent controversy

Recycled Metals most recently made headlines in March when the Providence Board of Licenses ordered the business to shut down for failing to have a junk license issued by the city.

The company's lawyer has said that it has the relevant state licenses and that the city was using strong-arm tactics to shut down the business.

It’s just the latest chapter in Recycled Metals’ fight with authorities that has stretched on for more than a decade.

Recycled Metals went into business in 2009, when it got the job of salvaging the Russian submarine Juliett 484, which had once served as the set of a Harrison Ford movie and, until it sank in a nor’easter, a floating museum in Providence's Collier Point Park. 

The company had the submarine towed to the waters off its 12-acre property and soon brought in other deteriorating vessels.

But DEM inspectors soon raised concerns that the business was discharging potentially contaminated stormwater into the Providence River and accused the company of other violations.

After the company failed to institute stormwater controls and clean up the site, the DEM joined with the attorney general’s office to file suit in state Superior Court.

While there has been recent progress to improve the property, there is still a long way to go.

The DEM said it is still assessing the situation after the fire.

"DEM will continue to monitor environmental conditions and, working with the Office of Attorney General Peter Neronha, investigate any complaints and suspected violations of environmental laws and regulations that may have resulted from this incident," the agency said.

Critics say business is a public health threat

The Smiley administration wasn't alone in targeting the business after Wednesday night's fire. Community advocates say the operation is a threat to the health of nearby neighborhoods in Washington Park and South Providence, areas that are lower-income and have higher populations of people of color.

"It's hard to imagine that a company with such a long history of violations would be allowed to operate in any other neighborhood," Julian Drix, chair of the city's Sustainability Commission, said on X. "This is environmental racism."

City Councilman Pedro Espinal, state Rep. Jose Batista, state Sen. Tiara Mack and the Black Lives Matter Rhode Island Political Action Committee all expressed support for shutting down the business.

"Enough is enough," Espinal said in a statement. "Rhode Island Recycled Metals is a dangerous business that has repeatedly jeopardized our environment, our firefighters' safety, and our residents' health."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Recycled Metals fire latest in string of issues for scrap metal yard