MOUNT PLEASANT TWP. (KDKA) – The Department of Environmental Protection is now stepping in because a local junkyard has been on fire for days and people who live nearby say the smell is awful.

“If they keep it up, they’ll have me dead in another week,” Mike, a neighbor, said.

He and his daughter, Mary Plumley, are among the fed up neighbors upset by the smoldering tires, shingles and demolition equipment off Hillmore Lane in Mount Pleasant Township.

“We have to keep the window shut all day and when I walk the dog out here it was so bad the one day, she was even coughing and we had to go inside because it’s very bad,” Michael Dillon said.

On Tuesday, someone lit the pile of junk, sparking the fire.

“Two to 300 feet of smoke cover, you know, that was like a pea soup all the way through the valley,” Donald Rash, Jr., a neighbor, said.

Mount Pleasant firefighters were called to the scene at least two times to attempt to put out the blaze and while they knocked down the flames, the problems remain.

The DEP is getting involved with efforts to stop the fire.

“Has there been any air quality tests?” Plumley said. “For all we know, anything that we’re inhaling could be poison. It could be detrimental to everybody’s health.”

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