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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Gusty winds caused a small brush fire to quickly spread to the main building at Bielecki Scrap and Recycling Center that turned into a raging inferno Monday.
				Four aerial ladder trucks were set up around the perimeter of the building on North Pennsylvania Avenue while firefighters conducted an exterior ground assault.
				Heavy black smoke could be seen for miles.
				Firefighters responded to the brush fire at about 1 p.m. behind the scrap yard.
				Winds caused the fire to spread to cardboard and pallets inside the yard that quickly extended to the front of the building, igniting a utility pole in flames.
				Fire Chief Jay Delaney called a general alarm for all off-duty firefighters to respond. Kingston Forty Fort Fire Department arrived with their aerial ladder truck.
				PPL Electric Utilities shut off the power grid disrupting service to homes and businesses in the area. Several streets were closed as firefighters rolled out hoses for several blocks to access hydrants.
				A Wilkes-Barre engine company laid hoses to a hydrant three blocks away that supplied water to Kingston Forty Fort&rsquo;s aerial ladder truck set up on North Pennsylvania Avenue. One aerial ladder truck was set up in the yard behind the building while two other aerials were in Wilkes-Barre General Hospital&rsquo;s auxiliary parking lot and North Pennsylvania Avenue near Conyngham Avenue.
				Firefighters were forced to conduct an exterior battle to fight the flames as the building was filled with recyclables, combustible materials and unknown debris.
				Throughout the battle, several explosions were heard that shook the ground causing massive flare-up of flames endangering firefighters in aerial bucket trucks. Firefighters in the bucket trucks took cover as they were quickly engulfed in black smoke after explosions.
				It remained unknown late Monday afternoon if any injuries occurred.
				Several city firefighters were put in charge of accountability to monitor those firefighters involved in suppression efforts, keeping a diagram where firefighters were positioned around the blaze. Firefighters during breaks were given bottled water and had their heart rates monitored.
				Firefighters had the blaze under control at about 3:30 p.m. Streets in the area were expected to be closed into late Monday night.
				The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection&rsquo;s Emergency Response Team was dispatched to the scene to monitor air quality.
				Colleen Connolly, a DEP spokeswoman, said in email, the results at the scrapyard fire &ldquo;produced no dangerous levels of hazardous chemicals in the air around around the perimeter of the fire. DEP did detect certain levels of carbon monoxide at the fire scene itself, but that is expected with the fire of this magnitude. Monitoring several blocks away from the fire produced no dangerous levels.&rdquo;

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Brush fire spreads into building at Bielecki Scrap Yard in Wilkes-Barre