West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service deployed five engines to the Knowsthorpe Way site in Cross Green after they received reports of a blaze at approximately 12.45pm yesterday.
The fire is understood to have ignited via rubber and oily residues within a 40x30m scrap metal stack, which spread to the main 20x20m building in the yard.
At its height, the fire reached 15 metres into the sky with a black plume of smoke reported by residents across Leeds.
EMR staff were at the site at the time of the blaze but no injuries have been reported.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com this morning, a fire service spokeswoman said that firefighters are likely remain on site throughout the day to tackle the fire – though the number of pumps has been downgraded to three.
She said: “Firefighters are still at the incident and are going to be for at least all day today. They have got down to three pumps and are currently dealing with dampening down.
“There is still no idea at this point how the fire might have started. We will be working with the Environment Agency to establish what happened.”
EMR
As one of the largest metal recyclers in the UK, EMR buys all ferrous and non-ferrous grades of metal as well as end-of-life vehicles and catalytic converters. In February, the metal recycling giant opened its third depot in Sheffield on the former Suez site on Holbrook Estate in Halfway – increasing its network of more than 70 depots in the across the country (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Cross Green site is usually open between 7am and 4.30pm on weekdays and 7am and 11.30am on Saturdays.
When contacted by letsrecycle.com, EMR declined to comment.
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