A train blocked Waupaca firefighters’s access to a burning structure in an east-side industrial park for 30 minutes Thursday, Jan. 31.
At 9:27 p.m., firefighters were called to the Alter Trading metal recycling facility, 2080 Spindt Drive, Waupaca.
Responding fire trucks were delayed by a train on tracks that cross both roads leading to Spindt Drive.
The train moved and the gates were raised at 10:03 p.m.
When firefighters arrived to the scene one minute later, they found flames and heavy smoke coming from a sorting shack.
They extinguished the fire in the structure and on a conveyer belt.
Alter employees had turned off gas valves and circuit breakers that fed the structure.
According to the incident report, the structure had not been used for several days, but the heat was left on due to the extreme cold.
Total structural and equipment damage was estimated at $35,000.
No injuries were reported.