Fire sweeps through Cook Township salvage yard

Volunteer firefighters from 14 Westmoreland County companies worked throughout the night Saturday and into Sunday morning to put out a fire in a Cook Township auto salvage yard that began shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday.

Chestnut Ridge Volunteer Fire Department Chief Shawn Kestner said firefighters were called to Pipers Auto Salvage, a sprawling salvage yard, east of Latrobe in a remote section of Cook Township at 4:49 p.m. after employees at the salvage yard tried unsuccessfully to put out a fire there.

Kestner said the plume from the fire that raced across the salvage yard was visible for more than five miles.

Firefighters tapped tanker trucks from 14 companies to haul water up a narrow one-lane road to the site, Kestner said.

“We had roughly 2,000 feet of five-inch line from the hardtop road to the salvage yard,” he said.

Firefighters left the site around 4 a.m.

Kestner said there were no injuries, but the salvage yard sustained extensive damage.