Firefighting teams were released Saturday morning from a large fire at a tire recycling plant that spewed smoke into Ronan on Friday.

Ronan Fire Chief Mark Clary said that crews turned the scene over to the Tire Depot owners at around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, more than a day after the fire was reported early Friday morning. As of Friday night more than 300 dump-truck loads of dirt had been dumped on the fire. Clary expected just as many loads of clay to be dumped on the blaze on Saturday.

Clary said officials from the Environmental Protection Agency monitored air quality throughout the night.

“They were happy where the air readings were at,” Clary said.

The fire likely will continue to burn beneath the clay.

“I’d call it under control,” Clary said. “It’s probably going to be burning underground for quite a while.”

At one point the fire was tended to by 50 firefighters from across Mission Valley. The burn site was the size of a football field.

“I would like to thank all the area fire departments who responded to the scene,” Clary said.

The plant had a previous fire in 2001 where EPA officials were called.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or [email protected].