A large blaze on the outskirts of Devizes involving 300 tonnes of commercial waste including plastics and paper is now under control, according to the Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service.
Wiltshire Waste (Recycling) Ltd, part of the Grist Group, confirmed collections of commercial waste for processing at its 150,000 tonnes per year capacity waste transfer station at Mounument Hill would resume as normal this morning, after firefighters were called to the site at 4.44pm yesterday (January 28).
At its height, five crews from Devizes, Trowbridge and Melksham tackled the blazing piles of residual waste derived from wood, paper, and plastics, supported by water carriers, an incident vehicle, an aerial appliance and an operational support unit.
Staff on the site and firefighters used on-site machinery to create fire breaks in the piles of waste, which helped contain the blaze to one part of the open-air facility.
The fire also caused a significant plume of smoke that could be seen across Devizes, and is still emanating from the site. As a precaution, Wiltshire Councils Public Health department last night advised local people to keep windows and doors shut. The warning has since been lifted.
As of 6am this morning, one crew remains in attendance at the site to oversee a mechanical digger being use to move unaffected waste away from the fire.
‘Massive bonfire’
A spokeswoman for the Fire Service said the outbreak now resembles a massive bonfire, with staff and incident managers currently deciding whether to dampen the flames or let it burn out naturally.
She added that a smoke warning could be reissued if water is used on the affected site.
A number of organisations were involved in the incident over the course of the evening, including Wiltshire Police, South Western Ambulance Service and the Environment Agency.
The fire is believed to have started accidentally, but the Fire Service has said that the exact cause has yet to be established.
Paul Mortimer, sales manager at the Wiltshire Recycling site, told letsrecycle.com it was business as usual today but said a full investigation into what caused the fire was now underway.
He said: We had an arson attack about 10 years ago but we are at a loss as to why this happened. We know the material involved was what comes off the end of the picking line as residual waste, that then goes to energy from waste as RDF.
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But the contingency plan was followed and there has been no disruption to our service levels at all. We must now make sure this never happens again.
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