Public Safety
Sixth Fire in Two Years at EMR Recycling Prompts Mayor to Demand Reimbursement
Pensacola Fire crews knocked down a pile of burning aluminum wire and plastic spools Monday at EMR Southern Recycling—the second fire this year and the sixth in two years at the scrapyard. Mayor D.C. Reeves says taxpayers shouldn’t foot the bill anymore.
Mayor D.C. Reeves and Fire Chief Ginny Cranor briefed reporters Wednesday, Aug. 5, on Monday’s fire at EMR Southern Recycling, the metal scrapyard that has now burned six times in the past two years, including twice in 2026. The fire was extinguished within about an hour, and no injuries were reported.
Where it started: Crews arrived to find a 50-by-100-foot pile of mostly aluminum wiring, along with plastic wire spools, about a third of it burning. The pile sat in a different part of the property than May’s fire, isolated from the rest of the facility.
“You can imagine how that makes me feel that we’re reaching a ridiculous level of having to send our firefighters out there,” Reeves said.
How Firefighters Knocked It Down
Cranor said Monday’s blaze was smaller than previous fires at the site, and crews moved fast:
- The first engine on scene used 750 gallons of water from an elevated nozzle to knock the fire down almost immediately.
- Two engine companies then built a 2,000-foot water supply relay between fire engines—roughly four city blocks of hose, Reeves noted.
- The fire was reported by a 911 call, not the facility’s thermal detection system, which had flagged the May fire. Cranor said she’s not sure who placed the call.
- Escambia County EMS staged on site to monitor firefighters for heat-related injury.
Cause still unknown. Cranor said the fire remains under investigation and, as with earlier fires at the site, damage has made it difficult to pin down a cause. She pointed to a broader, national problem at scrap facilities: lithium-ion batteries. EMR has spent the past nine weeks working with the fire marshal’s office on a process to isolate batteries from other scrap.
Reeves: “Not One Extra Dime” From Taxpayers
Reeves said the city’s fire officials and legal team have been meeting with EMR’s ownership since sending the company a letter after the May fire, pushing for two things: reimbursement of the city’s firefighting costs, and infrastructure upgrades—including an unmanned monitor system and an onsite water supply—that are still being installed.
“If this is the business and it’s an allowed use, you’re allowed to be there—then the cost of doing that business, if you plan on having multiple fires in two years in our city, is that when we come to put it out, we are not doing that free of charge,” Reeves said. “My expectation is that every cent it costs us would then be passing that on to the company.”
Asked whether the city could revoke EMR’s operating permit, Reeves deferred to the city attorney’s office, calling it “quite a complex conversation.”
- He credited EMR for cooperating with multiple site visits and for following the safety measures imposed after prior fires—limiting pile size, establishing fire breaks and capping the facility’s gross tonnage—even as he argued those measures haven’t been enough.
Regulators on scene: Cranor said the fire marshal was in contact with a Florida Department of Environmental Protection representative on site Monday night. FDEP and Escambia County both conduct air monitoring near the facility, and the fire department is watching to make sure water discharged from the site doesn’t reach the Bayou Chico. Cranor said she’s not aware of any additional environmental impact from the fire.
Cranor said the city is close to finalizing additional fire-prevention requirements for EMR and will now have to take a fresh look at this section of the property, since it’s separate from the area that has caused most of the facility’s past problems.