A small but persistent blaze caused by welding sparks just before 9 a.m. kept Ann Arbor fire crews busy for two hours this morning at Recycle Ann Arbor.

The call for help went out when employees using extinguishers were unable to douse the flames. Ann Arbor Fire Department Battalion Chief Kevin Cook said the sparks ignited “probably paper products” beneath a conveyor belt that was under repair. The employees escaped uninjured.

Located within the larger of the site’s two main buildings at 2950 E. Ellsworth Road, the conveyor, used for moving recyclables in the sorting process, was situated in a concrete “pit” inside a stainless steel housing, Cook said.

With no access door opening into the housing, firefighters had to use rotary saws on the hardened, plated steel to make openings for the fire’s suppression.

“It took a lot of bodies because the saws are very large,” Cook said. “A different crew was changing blades.”

Altogether, he estimated that 5,000 to 10,000 gallons of water and 15 gallons of foam were sprayed into the conveyor's housing.

“We flooded the area with foam and water.”

Crews worked two hours in all before the fire was extinguished. Cook could give no damage estimate, but said, “They were not anticipating they would be out (of order) for very long.”

Attempts to reach Recycle Ann Arbor employees were unsuccessful.