Firefighters with Barrow County Emergency Services spent Sunday afternoon through Monday morning battling a large mulch fire at a recycling plant off Barrow Industrial Parkway. 

Communication officers received a 911 call shortly before 4:45 p.m. reporting the fire. 

“Upon arrival of firefighters flames were visible from the tops of a large pile of mulch,” Lt. Scott Dakin, public information office for the department, said in a news release. “Upon further investigation several piles were burning and the fire was spreading towards other piles of mulch on the property as well as a piece of equipment utilized by the recycling company.”

Engines 7, 4, 3 and 31 and Ladder Truck 7 responded to the scene. Working with the staff of the recycling company through the night, the fire was stopped from spreading before it could reach the nearby equipment and other piles of mulch. By 7 a.m. Monday, the fire was completely contained to the two mulch piles.

According to the news release, the cause of the fire was spontaneous combustion of the mulch.

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