Image courtesy of Humberside Fire and Rescue

‘Thousands of tonnes’ of plastics are still burning at the plastics baling site of waste management firm Thompson Waste in Scunthorpe, two days after the fire broke out.

Humberside Fire & Rescue Service (HFRS) sent three crews from Scunthorpe and three others from Winterton, Brigg and Crowle to the scene of a ‘large incident’ following a report of fire at Thompson’s plastic baling site in Winterton Road just after 6pm on Tuesday (6 May).

More than 40 firefighters tackled the fire over Tuesday and Wednesday with the help of specialist aerial equipment, and the fire has now been contained within the building of origin.

Firefighters could remain on site ‘until Friday’

However, HFRS has said that two teams will stay on the scene until the fire is completely extinguished, and will be ‘dampening down’ the ‘large amount’ of recyclable materials held on site to stop the fire spreading to other parts of the plant.

According to the officer in charge of the incident, Group Manager Paul McCourt, firefighters could be on scene until tomorrow (9 May).

HFRS is reportedly working in ‘close co-operation’ with the Environment Agency to ‘minimise any potential issues with local watercourses’.

Residents in the immediate area and to the northeast of Scunthorpe (Dragonby and Winterton) are being advised to remain indoors with windows closed, as there is a possibility of the smoke causing breathing difficulties.

However, there have been no reported injuries or breathing difficulties at the scene or across the wider area.

It is hoped that the large amounts of smoke will dissipate ‘over the next few hours’.

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.

Indeed, just last week a fire broke out at Taylors Environmental Recycling Services in Hull, while a ‘large fire’ involving more than 100 fire fighters at recycling firm Tradpak Recycling in Leeds also hit headlines.

To reduce the outbreak of fire at waste storage sites, the EA has released guidance that identifies a range of measures that operators of waste storage sites should implement to minimise the risk of fire.

However, Mark Tansey of fire detection supplier FireVu recently told Resource that the guidanceneglects to mention fire detection and prevention technology, which he says is an ‘essential step’ to stalling and extinguishing fires.

Read more about the EA guidance or Mark Tansey’s Comment piece.