Crews battled a large fire that broke out in a Largo warehouse Friday evening.
Largo Fire Rescue says brush and construction debris were burning inside a large steel warehouse at Angelo's Recycled Materials, located at 1755 20th Ave. SE, and knocking it down was a challenge because hydrants were so far away.
"The supply was quite a distance, about 300 feet away was the closest hydrant, and the building behind us burning was about 3,000 feet so we went up Starkey Road and it took three engine companies to pull that off," District Chief Keith Daliendo said.
Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles. Residents say they could see flames shooting into the area.
"The flames were at least 30 feet," John Dawson said. "It definitely did not look like something normal. There's no way they'd be burning something inside an enclosed structure. There was no fire that had spread out into the open air. It was all underneath the metal building."
Firefighters mounted an aerial attack, which allowed them to get the fire under control. They haven't been able to get into the building to see how much damage there is yet, because they have to make sure its structurally sound first.
"We'll probably have some heavy equipment moving debris around because the fire is going to be deep-seated," Daliendo said. "The pile that's under there is about 20 feet high."
No one was inside the warehouse when the fire broke out. No one was injured.
Firefighters will be out at the warehouse overnight just in case any hot spots flare up, but they say there is no danger to the surrounding neighborhoods.