Morning fire at West Oakland Radius Recycling revives scrutiny of plant’s past fires and violations

Fire contained to equipment unit; no injuries reported

A fire burned Wednesday morning, March 11, 2026, at Radius Recycling’s metal recycling facility in West Oakland, prompting a response from the Oakland Fire Department and renewing attention on a site that has faced prior major incidents and regulatory action.

Oakland fire officials reported the blaze was contained to a conveyor belt unit at the facility near the Port of Oakland. Radius Recycling said the fire occurred at its site at 1101 Embarcadero West, was fully extinguished, and resulted in no reported injuries. The company said the Fire Department completed a post-incident review and that operations resumed.

A plant with repeated public safety and environmental oversight issues

Radius Recycling, formerly known as Schnitzer Steel, processes and sorts scrap metal in West Oakland, including material from older vehicles and appliances. The facility has been the focus of community and regulator concerns tied to fire risk and air quality impacts.

The latest incident follows a much larger fire at the same West Oakland site in August 2023. An incident report issued the next day described a fire that started in a scrap metal pile and produced large plumes of smoke that triggered an air quality advisory. The report noted that Oakland Fire and San Francisco Bay fireboats responded and that the fire was not fully extinguished by early morning the day after it began.

Legal and regulatory actions tied to the 2023 blaze

In the wake of the August 2023 fire, prosecutors initially pursued a criminal case. In May 2025, the Alameda County District Attorney dismissed the criminal charges, citing uncertainty about meeting the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

In July 2025, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Alameda County District Attorney filed a joint civil lawsuit related to alleged air quality violations connected to the 2023 fire. The lawsuit seeks penalties and an injunction and alleges the facility accepted excess scrap while equipment was offline and stored material in areas lacking required fire-prevention infrastructure such as water cannons and heat-detection systems. The case has been described as pending.

Prior air-quality penalty unrelated to the 2023 fire

Separately, in October 2024, the Air District announced a $575,000 settlement with Radius Recycling over air quality violations at facilities in West Oakland and San Jose. The agency said most of the cited issues were connected to the installation and operation of pollution-control equipment required for the West Oakland metal shredder. The Air District stated that the penalty did not resolve notices of violation issued in connection with the August 2023 West Oakland fire.

• Incident date: March 11, 2026 (conveyor belt unit fire; contained; no injuries reported).
• Major prior incident: August 9–10, 2023 (scrap-pile fire; smoke plume; air quality advisory).
• Regulatory track: October 2024 settlement on equipment-related air violations; July 2025 civil lawsuit tied to 2023 fire allegations.

Radius Recycling stated that the fire was extinguished, no injuries were reported, and operations resumed after a post-incident review.