BROOKSVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — Hernando County firefighters battled a fire at the Hernando County landfill in Brooksville early Saturday morning.

Officials said the fire broke out at the landfill’s recycling center on Landfill Road at around 5:45 a.m.

The fire has been put under control, but Hernando Fire Rescue told 8 On Your Side that the building is a total loss.

No injuries were reported in the fire.

“This is where we stockpile and prepare for transport all of our recycling materials in the county,” said Utilities Director Gordon Onderdonk.

From cardboard to aluminum, all of the recycling in Hernando County ends up at this facility.

“We had roughly 15 tons of paper and cardboard in there and roughly 18 tons of plastics and aluminum,” Onderdonk explained.

Fire Chief Paul Hasenmeier said an employee showed up for work, only to see the building up in flames.

“There’s no hydrants in this area, so this fire escalated to a second alarm to where we needed extra tankers,” Hasenmeier explained.

Their biggest obstacle was the rural area of Brooksville.

The nearest fire hydrant was miles away.

Division Chief of Operations Kristian Sloane said, “We [were] running about five tankers, which is about 3,000 gallons a piece…on a continuous loop about 3 miles.”

It wasn’t a straight shot.

8 On Your Side drove from the nearest fire hydrant to the scene of the fire just to see how long it would take.

It took us just over 7 minutes with twists and turns along the way and five speed bumps.

“Plus on top of that, being a metal building with heavy fire involvement, it’s a little harder to get inside and get to the base of the fire,” Sloane explained. “So it took a while.”

“Crews did work pretty hard on it,” he continued. “We did have to go to…a second alarm for the water supply.”

“So the question remains, where will recycling here in Hernando County go now that this facility is a total loss?

Onderdonk said, they’re working to figure out those answers and will let the public know as soon as they find a solution.

The site will be closed until at least Monday.