A Scrap Pile Caught Fire in Jarrell and Burned 85 Acres

By Siam Sukkhee Trading Co., Ltd — 2026-09-13 — Waste360 (recycling/scrap)

Last Thursday afternoon, someone called in a fire at Wilco Iron & Metal Recycling in Jarrell, Texas. Just after 1 p.m. A routine-sounding dispatch that turned into something much larger.

The fire started in the metal scrap pile—exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to burn hot and long in a recycling yard. But then it jumped.

Crews arrived at the facility on Alsace Avenue and found heavy smoke, flames already consuming the pile of recyclables. They called for backup, which meant more trucks, more personnel, the whole machinery spinning up. But the real problem wasn't the yard fire itself. It was what came next.

The flames caught the dry grass in a nearby field and spread fast. Very fast. The kind of grass fire that doesn't care much what humans are trying to do about it. By late afternoon, the whole situation had sprawled across roughly 85 acres—starting at the recycling plant and pushing outward into open ground.

One person got treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and dehydration, which makes sense given the scale and the speed. Evacuations were ordered in the surrounding area. Interstate 35's frontage road got shut down. Multiple agencies showed up—not just the local fire department but the Texas A&M Forest Service, a helicopter from Travis County, and several other jurisdictions, all of them trying to contain something that had moved beyond a simple structural fire.

Actually, that's not quite right. It was never simple. A scrap yard fire is inherently unpredictable because you don't always know what's sitting in those piles.

By the evening, they'd gotten it to about 60% containment. Crews stayed on through the night working hot spots and flare-ups. The evacuation order got lifted once the immediate danger passed. Air quality tested safe afterward.

The facility is one of several metal recycling operations in the region, the kind of place you don't think about until something like this happens. Then suddenly you're looking at smoke columns visible for miles and trying to figure out how a pile of scrap metal becomes an 85-acre wildfire.

The cause remains under investigation.

Source: "Fire crews arrived and found a large metal scrap pile with heavy smoke and flames at Wilco Iron & Metal recycling." — KVUE

Tags: ESG metals mining industry