A dark plume of smoke could be seen for miles in Windsor, but the fire at Zalev Brothers Co. was quickly extinguished.

Now begins the task of finding the cause.

Firefighters were called to the scrap yard at 100 Grand Marais Road East just before 2 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.

Deputy chief Jamie Waffle says there were three separate grass fires between Titan Tool and Zalev's.

“One of those grass fires in the yard of Zalev's got into the roof of one of the structures,” says Waffle.

The structure was a scrap building and a plume of dark smoke filled the air, but Waffle tells CTV News there was never any environmental concern.

There was a report that someone was caught in the middle of the fire trying to put it out.

“They were safely removed from that by the crews,” says Waffle. “No injuries, no reported injuries at this time.”

With high winds, Waffle confirms the fire spread quickly, almost reaching the Ivy Rose Motel on Howard Ave.

“I was literally watching TV and then see the whole back window turn like red,” says witness Steve Hermiz.

According to another witness, the fire came within a few feet of the back building.

“We're not sure where it started but as you can see we got a lot of wind today,” says Waffle. “We don't know the cause yet. That's to be determined yet.”

Zalev Brothers Co. is a location of Ferrous Processing and Trading in Windsor that features a certified public scale for ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals, according to their website.