Utah recycling fire
©Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake City Fire Department crews battle a blaze at Western Metals Recycling near 4400 west and 700 south Aug. 27, 2008. The fire burned wooden pallets and some old cars and no injuries were reported.

Utah - Several small fires at a metal recycling plant erupted into a huge cloud of thick black smoke on Salt Lake City's west side Thursday morning.

At about 9:45 a.m. an explosion caused power lines to arc and throw sparks onto the lot, igniting fires in old cars, garbage and pallets at Western Metal Recycling, 4221 W. 700 South, said Salt Lake City Fire Department spokesman Scott Freitag

Firefighters don't know what caused the initial explosion.

Manuel Munos, 42, said he saw a transformer explode as he moved cars on the space he leases for a metal recycling business, ABC Recycling.

Oscar Penn, 21, was also at the lot.

"I heard a big explosion, and the roof caught on fire and started going to the pallets," Penn said.

Rocky Mountain power officials reported a power outage associated with the fire, but said they had no immediate reports about their equipment malfunctioning there. The company is investigating.

About 20 people were on the lot when the fires started, but all were evacuated and there were no injuries, Freitag said.

Firefighters were also able to keep the flames from igniting a 3,000 gallon diesel fuel tank, though small amounts of gas in the cars' tanks fueled the fire.

A small shed was the only structure lost on the acre-sized lot, Freitag said. He had no estimate on the amount of damage caused.

It's the second major fire to break out in the area this summer. On June 28, a four-alarm fire ignited by sparks from a passing train destroyed nearby Central Pallet of Utah, 810 S. 4190 West. That fire caused about $2 million in damage.

Western Metals Recycling is the largest metal recycling company in the West, according to the company's Web site. It was formed in 1996 when several scrap companies merged and is now headquartered in Salt Lake City and owned by a Cincinnati-based company.