Fire risk in the Valley: what the numbers say
Facility fires across North America hit a record in 2025, and scrap yards are trending the wrong way. That matters in a steel town.
A record year
Fire Rover, which tracks publicly reported fires at waste and recycling facilities, counted 448 in the U.S. and Canada in 2025, with more than $2.5 billion in damage. The first two months of 2026 added 56 more, the highest February total since tracking began in 2016. [1][2]
Fire Rover’s June 2026 report describes the industry as operating in a permanently elevated fire-risk environment. It also flags metals: scrap operations appear to be sustaining a persistently elevated fire environment, and when upstream battery contamination rises, metals facilities feel it almost immediately. [3]
Why that lands here
The Mahoning Valley’s economy still runs through scrap and metals. Every vape that goes into a mixed load is a potential ignition source for the people working those floors.
EPA’s own review found that nearly 80% of the recycling plants and 40% of the landfills it studied had called firefighters for a lithium battery fire within seven years. [4]