Market Segment
January 20, 2026
Cleveland-Cliffs' Weirton mill catches fire ahead of planned demolition
Written by Kristen DiLandro
Cleveland-Cliffs’ shuttered tin mill in Weirton, W.Va., caught fire on Saturday as a crew worked to recover scrap metal ahead of the plant’s demolition, according to a local news reports.
Local news sources reported that sparks from a torch ignited a tank below a tin-plating line. There were no injuries.
Weirton Fire Chief Kevin Himmelrick said the lack of water and electricity at the site required firefighters to call in other fire departments to bring in tankers of water to the site, according to CBS News.
“Everything went well. We probably, after we got tankers on scene, we were probably 45 minutes (to) an hour to get it under control,” Himmelrick said.
Cliffs Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said in 2024 that the company would idle Weirton. The cause for the closure? A US International Trade Commission (ITC) decision not to impose antidumping and countervailing duties on tinplate imports from a handful of countries.
In June 2025, Goncalves said the mill would remain idle despite Section 232 tariffs increasing to 50%. Cliffs also abandoned plans to use Weirton as a site for making transformers. Goncalves said the project no longer fit the company’s strategic vision.
Cleveland-Cliffs did not respond to a request for comment from SMU about the fire.
