The fire at the plant, which is used to treat residual waste from a number of local authorities in the North-East, started at around 1.10am on Sunday morning, and 10 fire engines initially attended the incident.
A spokeswoman for SITA UK told letsrecycle.com today (September 1) that, while all three lines at the 390,000 tonne-a-year capacity facility were currently out of operation, “early indications” were that line three would be the first to be back up-and-running, “in the next day or do”.
The £70 million, 136,000 tonne-a-year capacity line three is a recent addition to the Tees Valley facility, and is being used to treat waste collected under the company's PFI-funded waste treatment contract with Northumberland county council.
In June 2009, SITA UK revealed that the extension had passed performance tests (see letsrecycle.com story), and the line is scheduled to be officially opened early next month.
Cause
Commenting on the current situation at the facility, the firm's regional manager, Julie Craigie, said: “We are still investigating the cause of the fire, which shorted some electrical and hydraulic equipment in the backroom area of the facility.
“The fire was not in an area where waste was stored and at no time was there any danger that the waste storage area would be affected.
“There were no injuries as a result of the fire and we are awaiting engineer's reports about the level of damage and its impact on operations,” she added.
Ms Craigie described the fire crews who attended the blaze as “brilliant” and said that “their prompt and efficient service ensured that the amount of damage was limited.”
Waste
As well as burning Northumberland county council's waste to produce electricity, the Tees Valley facility also treats up to 230,000 tonnes-a-year of residual waste from Stockton, Redcar & Cleveland, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough councils, using its two original lines that have been operational for 10 years.
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