Fires broke out a two separate recycling sites this weekend.

Fire crews from Cudworth, Barnsley, Tankersley, and Dearne were called to Glass Recycling Ltd’s site on Carlton Road in Barnsley at around 3pm on Saturday (15 January) afternoon, after receiving reports of a fire breaking out in a drying unit.

On arrival, the 25 firefighters found the hopper of the drying unit (used to remove labels from bottles) ‘well alight’ and sent four crew members into the premises with breathing apparatuses to assess and tackle the fire.

Two main jets and an aerial appliance were also used to tackle the fire from above.

The blaze was brought under control after around four hours, with fire crews leaving the site ‘just after’ 7pm.

A spokesperson for the fire service told Resource: “The fire was well developed on arrival, but the prompt action of the firefighters managed to bring the incident under control very quickly.”

Resource contacted Glass Recycling Ltd for comment, but has not yet received a response, however it is believed that none of the workers on site at the time were injured in the fire, which is believed to have started accidentally.

However, a ‘suspicious’ fire broke out in a skip at a recycling centre run by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council yesterday evening (16 February).

The skip, which contained clothing and cardboard, was situated at the council’s recycling in George Street West and firefighters said the cause of the fire was ‘without a doubt, suspicious’.

Two fire engines extinguished the flames later that evening.

Speaking to Blackburn Citizen, Fire Crew Manager Tom Mellor said: “We were there for around about 45 minutes.

“We needed extra appliances, extra personnel and quite a bit of water.

“It was without a doubt suspicious.”

Tackling waste fires

Waste site fires 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.

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 have 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.