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By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer 

ALABASTER – Firefighters from the Alabaster Fire Department have successfully extinguished a large dumpster fire at the Shelby Baptist Medical Center.

Members of the AFD arrived on the scene of a large dumpster fire at the Shelby Baptist Medical Center on Monday, June 26.

“All our crews had to do (was) open it up and pull the stuff out and a use a wetting agent,” Alabaster Fire Chief Tim Love said.

The fire was self-contained in a compacting unit full of cardboard outside of the hospital with no danger to the hospital occupants or patients. There were no chemicals or other liquids located within the dumpster. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

“They treated it like any other fire with full protective equipment,” Love said. “They opened up the back portion of it and started pulling the pieces out piece-by-piece. They cooled it and wet it and got to where the center of the fire was.”

Love shared that the crew employed the use of an agent in the water that soaks into the items and breaks up the surface tension and soaks in the cardboard. The process of putting out the fire took less than an hour.

Love said the department used social media as a way to assure people that the fire posed no threat.

“We wanted to make sure that people in and around the hospital were aware that there was no danger at that time, it was all contained,” he said. “We try to use our social media pages to keep people aware of issues that are going on anytime we can.”

Those interested in learning more about the Alabaster Fire Department may visit its official Facebook page at Facebook.com/AlabasterFire.