Saskatoon fire department resources stretched at Shercom Industries shredded rubber plant blaze

The typical Saskatoon Fire and Protective Services news release describes crews arriving at a scene, launching an aggressive interior or external attack, and then knocking down the flames in less than an hour.

But the blaze at Shercom Industries was not a typical fire.

The two buildings filled with shredded rubber and polyurethane canisters kept crewsand equipment tied up for more than 24 hours.

The rubber ignited, burned, melted, spread and then burned some more.

"There's a number of challenges, for sure," said Battalion Chief Marc Degirolamo.

"The main one is just the amount of time the crews had to spend on scene."

Put the wet stuff on the red stuff. -- Battalion Chief Marc Degirolamo

Degirolamo said that crews from different fire halls were regularly rotated through to keep them fresh. At any given time, there were between a dozen to 18 local fire fighters involved.

This represented about a third of the available staff on a given shift.

The fire, located on the outskirts of town in the North Corman Industrial Park, also presented its own challenges because there were no hydrants. The crews had to bring water to a blaze that absorbed everything they tossed on it.

They eventually switched to a special foam.

"Foam is the agent that we use to fight fires like that," he said.

"It makes the water penetrate a lot better."

Degirolamo said fire fighters train for different scenarios all the time. So this blaze, while challenging, didn't offer anything they hadn'tpractised for.

The strategy is basically the same across the board.

Ensure the safety of the public and fire fighters, and then "put the wet stuff on the red stuff."