DAMAGE ASSESSMENT CITY MUST DIVERT RECYCLABLES AFTER FIRE.Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer CANYON COUNTRY - As the cleanup continued Monday after a weekend fire ripped through Santa Clarita's only recycling facility, officials surveyed the damage and made arrangements to send the city's newspapers, cans and bottles elsewhere. Fire investigators have not determined what caused the Friday night fire at Quality Papers quality papers quality (Brit) npl the quality papers → die seriösen Zeitungen pl Inc. that charred bales of recyclables and destroyed the conveyor belt conveyor belt One of various devices that provide mechanized movement of material, as in a factory. Conveyor belts are used in industrial applications and also on large farms, in warehousing and freight-handling, and in movement of raw materials. on the sorting machine, shutting down the facility. ``We worked all weekend to get the burned trash out of there so the machinery can be repaired as soon as possible,'' said Karl McCarthy, general manager of Santa Clarita/Blue Barrel Disposal, one of the companies that haul trash to the Santa Clara Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. Street facility. Although the sorting system could be repaired in as few as two weeks, Blue Barrel will truck the city's recyclables to Sun Valley Paper Stock in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. in the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , McCarthy said. The weekend fire was the second fire in the past year at the recycling yard. The first was caused by faulty electrical wiring Electrical wiring in general refers to insulated conductors used to carry electricity, and associated devices. This article describes general aspects of electrical wiring as used to provide power in buildings and structures, commonly referred to as building wiring. that did not meet the city's code, said Jeff Lambert, the city's director of planning and building services. ``It appears that this fire did less structural damage,'' Lambert said as he surveyed the damage. ``The code improvements must have prevented it from spreading.'' Quality Papers applied Monday for permits to repair the damaged sorting machine, Lambert said. ``The biggest loss is that all this trash, which would have been recycled, now has to be trucked to the landfill,'' Lambert said. ``It will certainly affect our diversion numbers.'' City officials have been keeping a close watch on the amount of trash sent to area landfills from Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, homes and businesses after an ``astronomical spike'' was discovered several months ago. A final report on the problem is expected to be released this week. A preliminary report found that the ``vast majority'' of the trash from surrounding unincorporated Adj. 1. unincorporated - not organized and maintained as a legal corporation unorganised, unorganized - not having or belonging to a structured whole; "unorganized territories lack a formal government" communities was being mistakenly attributed to the city because of reporting errors at Chiquita Canyon Landfill. ``We'll make sure the charred trash is reported accurately,'' McCarthy said. The city, Blue Barrel and Atlas Consolidated Services are scheduled to begin construction of a new state-of-the-art Materials Recovery Facility A materials recovery facility or materials reclamation facility (MRF -- pronounced "murf") is a specialized plant that receives, separates and prepares recyclable materials for marketing to end-user manufacturers. to handle the city's recyclables in the next few years, under the terms of a new contract agreed to a few months ago. That facility will have fire protection and prevention capabilities, Lambert said. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Jeff Lambert, city director of planning and building services, surveys the damage from Friday's fire at Quality Papers Inc. (2 -- color) City official Jeff Lambert on Monday passes caution tape used in fighting Friday's fire at Quality Papers Inc. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News |
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