Materials

Fire at waste paper storage site

Picture courtesy of GMFRS

A fire has broken out at a waste paper storage facility in Salford, with ‘thousands of tonnes’ of paper reportedly involved in the blaze.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) crews were called to the warehouse – thought to be owned by decontamination and demolition company, the Asset and Land Group – in Duncan Street, Salford, just before 11.30pm last night (2 March).

Eight fire engines and a number of aerial appliances were called to the scene to fight the flames, which had broken out in a building full of waste paper bales. A STIHL saw was used to gain access to the site.

Despite the incident being ‘scaled down’ at around 4am this morning, the blaze has since developed further, and around 40 firefighters are now dealing with the fire. Six appliances and an excavator remain at the scene to dampen down material.

Due to the thick smoke emanating from the site in Duncan Street, local residents are being advised to keep windows and doors closed.

GMFRS Group Manager Andy Heywood, who is currently in charge of tackling the fire, said: "It's a serious fire and our priority is to protect the neighbouring businesses and the railway line which runs next to the building affected.

"We're working with Environmental Health because of the large volume of smoke which is blowing over Salford.

"There's nothing to be alarmed by, but we are asking residents affected by the smoke plume to keep their doors and windows closed."

Although traffic is reportedly running smoothly, the fire is causing rail disruption to trains running between Manchester and Liverpool as the site is close to railway tracks. Duncan Street is closed to traffic, but the fire service has warned that more roads may close in the course of the day.

The blaze comes just days after a ‘small’ fire broke out Grantham-based waste electrical recycling company, Environcom .

This fire started on Friday (28 February) morning, in a piece of fridge recycling machinery. All staff were evacuated from the site as soon as the fire was detected and there were no injuries. Environcom said the fire was contained ‘very quickly by the onsite engineers and Fire Brigade’.

GMFRS also tackled two separate blazes at a scrap metal and plastic manufacturing facility last week.

Waste recycling fires

Fires at material sites such as these are commonplace, with figures released last year showing that between 2001 and 2012, the average rate of fires at waste and recycling works came in at just under one per day. Indeed, firefighters tackled a large blaze at Nottinghamshire Recycling Limited's recycling centre in Worksop just last week.

Further to the environmental and social damage that waste fires cause, the cost of clearing up such fires is extensive; the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has revealed that emergency services in Scotland spent £15.9 million tackling 8,000 waste fires in 2012/13.

The Environment Agency has released guidance aimed at reducing the outbreak of fire at waste storage sites. Prepared in partnership with the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA), the new Technical Guidance Note (TGN) ‘Reducing Fire Risk at Sites Storing Combustible Materials’ identifies a range of measures that operators of waste storage sites should implement to minimise the risk of fire.

Follow Manchester Evening News’s live blog on the fire at Duncan Street in Salford.