Fire hits Sheffield plastic factory
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (SYFRS) has been tackling a large fire at a plastics factory in Sheffield, after a blaze broke out at the facility on Sunday (14 July).
Around 50 fire fighters were called out to the site on Foley Street in Attercliffe, following reports of smoke billowing from a building at 2.30pm. The fire spread to a neighbouring plastics recycling plant, owned by Sheffield Reclaim Ltd, where 20 tonnes of plastic were said to have fuelled the flames and ‘badly damaged’ the plant. Resource contacted the firm for a statement, but received no reply.
Ten fire suppression appliances from seven different stations across the county were used to tackle the flames, with a thick plume of black smoke reportedly visible from neighbouring towns such as Doncaster. There were no reports of any casualties.
As of this morning (15 July), the incident has been scaled back to six pumps and an aerial ladder platform.
There had been concerns that the fire could spread to Veolia Environmental Service’s Sheffield energy recovery plant on nearby Bernard Road, but according to SYFRS, most of the fire is now out, with crews turning the plastics over to look for hot spots. Previous safety information issued to residents to close doors and windows has been lifted.
Speaking of the fire, Incident Commander of South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Rick Rolt, said: “The crews did an absolutely fantastic job. We were really worried about the fire spreading to neighbouring buildings such as Veolia. Then there would have been lots of potentially hazardous problems and we'd have been looking at evacuations. But the crews put some fire breaks in to stop the fire spreading, and they managed to contain it to the premise involved.
“We're likely to be turning the plastics over and damping down for days, but we've just got monitor jets on the fire now so we may be able to scale back later.”
SYFRS said fire crews are likely to remain in attendance for ‘at least the rest of today’, and road closures on Effingham Road, Bernard Road and Worthing Road will continue to remain in place.
Members of Sheffield Council’s dangerous structures team are due to visit the site to assess the condition of the plastic recycling plant.
The fire marks one of a several to have hit waste and recycling facilities in recent weeks, with a blaze at plastic recycler J&A Young (known as Jayplas), earlier this month being labelled as the “largest fire that the West Midlands [has had]". That incident came just weeks after similar 'massive' fire at a Kidderminster recycling plant owned by recycling and waste management company, Lawrence.
Fires at certain waste and recycling plants are common due to the combustible nature of the material being processed.
