Princess Street recycler faced cleanup order before fire

Both the province and Hamilton fire officials ordered a cleanup at an unapproved waste transfer facility near Lucy Day Park the month before piles of tires, scrap metal and construction debris went up in flames this week.

But the site operator — Clean Er Up bin rentals — appealed the Hamilton fire safety orders and successfully requested an extension on a provincial order that originally called for debris cleanup on the Princess Street site by the first week of October.

The large, stubborn fire — which firefighters said destroyed an excavator and large quantities of “combustibles” — is not the first major blaze on the industrial property at 135 Princess St.

But it was certainly the biggest fire Ziibiwan Mahgagahbow has witnessed since moving to the Stipley neighbourhood a few years