LACROSSE, Wis. – Dozens of scrapped cars, perhaps 100, burned up in a Northside fire that sent heavy black smoke hundreds of feet skyward No one was injured. Fire crews were dispatched about 5 p.m. to Alter Metal Recycling, 2410 Hauser Street. Xcel Energy remotely shut down high-voltage transmission lines over the scrap yard. One adjacent business was evacuated. Fifty employees at the nearby Schilling Paper Company had to shelter in place due to thick smoke.The fire took three hours to control. What caused the fire? Under investigation.
Aerial power douse. An estimated 100 scrapped cars were lost completely even as firefighters attacked the flames from all directions. Image: LaCrosse Fire Department