Monday, August 27, 2007

Unhappy Anniversary

Well, here we are again. EXACTLY 1 year to the day of last years large fire, ANOTHER fire occurred at the same scrap yard on Friday August 24th, 2007. Talk about one step forward and two steps back. After weeks of progress in terms of speaking with GB Scrap Metal about ongoing noise issues, improvements in yard practices and working towards co-existing peacefully, residents again had to breathe in some unpleasant nastiness from the thick black smoke of another fire.
Residents asked that the Owner's son Dino come to Westbury to speak to some members of the community Saturday morning, which he did. We were told that he could not explain how or why this happened. Apparently, a car slipped from the crane and when it hit the ground something went 'bang'. Not cool.
Residents spoke with Dino for close to two hours and were told that the scrap yard is going to be hiring a yard foreman which they hope will eliminate any further 'out of control' fires. He also said that if they cannot prevent these fires in the future they may have to stop taking on cars as part of their business. We certainly hope this is the last time this happens but who knows at this point.
Residents also asked that Dino distribute a letter to the community outlining the steps the scrap yard is taking to prevent this from happenning again. The yearly fires are not something that residents should have to live with and it is important that the scrap yard contacts the community to show that they care about our concerns. One thing we all agreed on is that GB Scrap Metal will consider August 24th a 'holiday' from now on.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_14079.aspx

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20070825/Scrapyard_blaze_anniversary_070825/20070825?hub=TorontoHome