Vehicles and trains alike were not able to travel through East Deer for hours on Saturday because of a scrap yard fire at Pitt Penn Recycling.
Freeport Road had to be closed and Norfolk Southern trains stopped because firefighters had to run a hose from a hydrant on the opposite side of the road to the facility, East Deer fire Chief Jack Bailie Jr. said.
There had once been a hydrant closer to Pitt Penn, but Bailie said the water main broke years ago and it was never replaced.
A pile of scrapped cars and other scrap caught fire around 11 a.m.
It took about two hours to get under control, Bailie said.
The fire is suspected to have been caused by a battery that shorted out in one of 10 scrapped cars that were stacked on top of each other, but Bailie said that was not a final determination.
The fire did not involve any buildings, and no one was hurt, Bailie said.
Firefighters from Tarentum, Frazer, New Kensington and Indiana Township also responded.
Once the fire was knocked down, smoldering cars were removed from the pile one-by-one so firefighters could douse them.
“It was tedious work at the end,” Bailie said.
