CAMBRIDGE - Flames lit up Soper Park this morning, as fire consumed much of a wooden pallet storage yard next door at 175 Beverly St.

JC Pallets is inside the compound of  the former Joy Manufacturing factory, where vandals have repeatedly set fires over the years -- and flattened an empty building there four years ago.

An old house and factory building at 201 Beverly St. was under a "make safe" order from city officials after two fires in April. The property owner had security guards watching the site and city officials were keeping an eye on it, too. 

Story continues below map showing fire location.

View Firebugs target Cambridge factory in a larger map

A demolition permit was issued last month by city hall for the boarded up and partially collapsed buildings at 201 Beverly St. but it's unclear if any work had started.

City officials always feared fire in the adjacent pallet yard, because flames could rapidly spread to adjoining buildings in the century-old industrial district.

After the April fires, city officials inspected the storage yard to ensure there were fire breaks between the stacks of tinder-dry wood.

 Firefighters were called by a passerby about 4 a.m.  When the first of four trucks arrived, flames were shooting 15 metres in the air from hundreds of neatly stacked rows wood platforms.  Pallets are used to allow fork lifts to carry material inside factories, to delivery trucks and into stores.

There were no reports of injuries. It wasn't clear this morning where the fire started.

Embers were floating towards eastward on the wind toward the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks as people started to gather in Soper Park to watch the spectacle.

Firefighters used two ladder trucks to pour water down on the inferno, with an occupied factory building behind immediately behind them.

Waterloo Regional Police blocked Beverly Street at Dundas Street to give firefighters room to work and to protect water hoses laying on the road.

 It took about 30 minutes to control the fire. It was a sea of embers an hour later as firefighters moved in with hoses to snuff it.  The were still busy at dawn, two hours later, as a light drizzle turned to rain.