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Fire crews battle blaze at Montgomery Co. recycling plant

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of firefighters from every from every fire station in Montgomery County battled a fire overnight and into Saturday afternoon at a recycling plant in Rockville, Maryland.

While the fire was contained on Friday, it wasn’t put out until Saturday evening. Pete Piringer, a spokesman for Montgomery County fire department, said crews cleared the scenes shortly before 1:30 p.m. Saturday and roads that were blocked subsequently reopened The Georgetown Paper Stock recycling plant in Rockville, Maryland, caught fire Friday afternoon. Piringer said Montgomery County firefighters got the call around 3:30 p.m. on Friday. At around 6:30 p.m., he said the fire has been “contained but far from being out.” Crews found piles of cardboard, cloth and other materials for recycling on fire. The materials continued to burn, necessitating more fire equipment to be brought in. Piringer said the two-alarm fire was very labor-intensive. Fire crews remained on the scene through the night. Some 125 firefighters were on hand to battle the blaze. There is no report of injuries. Piringer said the managers of the plant told him that there is about $100,000 of damage. The fire closed roads in the area of East Gude Drive and Southlawn Lane, affecting the evening commute

Below is the area where the fire happened. [google_map latitude=”39.099066″ longitude=”-77.136876″ zoom=”13″ height=”300px” location_label=”Georgetown Paperstock Fire” dynamic_map=”true”] WTOP’s Keara Dowd contributed to this report.

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