For the second time this year, the hot mill area of the Novelis aluminum plant has been the scene of a major fire. The plant, in the town of Scriba near Oswego, was reported to be on fire shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday. The first units on the scene confirmed the fire at 8:49 a.m. and within 10 minutes, elevated it to a four-alarm fire, calling in paid and volunteer firefighters from across the county either to the scene or to staff fire stations emptied to fight the blaze.
Nearby residents noticed thick black smoke rising from the area as firefighters and water-carrying trucks sped to the scene.
In a statement posted to its social media site, Novelis said that the fire was under control as of 10:15 a.m. and that no employees had been injured in the incident. The entire plant was evacuated.
It’s the second large fire in the hot mill area of the plant, the area where aluminum is melted and rolled into sheets. Those sheets become automobile panels. Ford depends on the Novelis Oswego plant for most of the aluminum for its popular line of pickup trucks. The first fire, in September, essentially destroyed the hot mill and caused Ford to lower its revenue forecasts by at least $1 billion.
Novelis had said it would take until sometime early in 2026 to rebuild the hot mill but in recent days, it had told industry observers the mill could be back online in December.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
