A ‘small fire’ involving electrical waste that broke out at Viridor’s Bargeddie Recycling Hub in North Lanarkshire yesterday (5 January) has now been extinguished.

At 8.29am yesterday morning, personnel loading a vehicle with waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) reported a ‘small fire’ in a storage bay where locally-collected material is held prior to being treated at the company’s specialist e-waste processing facility at Perth.

The bay contained around 30 tonnes of small domestic appliances such as irons, vacuum cleaners, and microwaves.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s (SFRS) Fire Control in Johnstone was called and two fire appliances from Easterhouse Community Fire Stations were sent to the address.

On arrival, the Incident Commander called for additional resources, such as water jets, to fight the ‘developing fire’, which resulted in further fire appliances being mobilised to the scene from Bellshill, Clydesmill, and Milngavie Community Fire Stations.

Following a day of firefighting, the fire was extinguished and the last fire service vehicle left the site at 5.30pm, however the waste management company has said that operations at the Bargeddie site will remain ‘limited’ whilst the company initiates its ‘resilience plan to fully restore essential recycling services to partners as quickly as possible’.

Thanks given to 'professional response'

Viridor’s UK compliance team is now working with SFRS and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the cause of the fire.

Commenting, Martin Grey, Communications Manager for Viridor, said: "With flames reported by site personnel in a storage bay for locally-collected small domestic appliances, staff followed established response plans and notified emergency services.

“Viridor staff were immediately accounted for and worked throughout the day with fire service personnel to bring the incident under control.

“Our thanks go to personnel from the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, Police Scotland, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency as well as our own staff for their professional response to this incident.”

Waste site fire guidance

The waste industry has encountered an increasing number of waste site fires in recent years, with the average rate of fires at waste and recycling works coming in at just under one per day.

In an attempt to prevent fires from occurring, the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum issued new guidance last year to help waste site operators reduce fire risk.

Endorsed by the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA), and developed with input from the Environment Agency (EA), the Environmental Services Association (ESA), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Health and Safety Laboratories (HSL), and other bodies, the guidance outlines how best to safely manage the storage of materials susceptible to combustion.

The Operations Director of the CFOA, Roy Wilsher, said that the guidance was “hugely useful”.

Find out more about the problems of waste site fires.