Weir Waste hit by ‘severe’ fire at Oldbury site

A member of the public alerted West Midlands Fire Service to the blaze at around 10:15 yesterday evening (27 April), with around 10 fire engines and 50 fire fighters from stations across the West Midlands and Birmingham attending the scene.

A spokesman for West Midlands Fire said that crews tackled a severe fire in a single-story premises, measuring 65 by 25 metres. The fire is reported to have involved less than 5% of the site, and burned through until around 4:45 this morning. Crews have remained on-site to continue damping down the affected areas.

The spokesman added that the blaze is being treated as accidental, although investigators are on site to establish the exact cause. Officers from the Environment Agency, National Grid, and Canal Trust are also present.

Despite the severity of the blaze, it has been reported that none of the machinery in the plant has been affected with much of the damage contained within material storage areas.

Statement

A spokesman for the company, said: “On Wednesday evening a fire broke out in a subsidiary building at our Trinity Street Material Recycling Facilities. Our on-site security team were alerted by our heat activation and sprinkler system and immediately notified the fire brigade.

“The fire brigade have now handed the site back to us and commended the sprinkler system and the fire breaks that we have in place. The presence of these systems in addition to on-site security, has meant our automated recovery MRF plant has not been impacted and normal collection services have been delivered to our customers today.

“We would like to sincerely thank the fire brigade for the speed of their response and the efficient and professional manner in which they dealt with the fire. We would also like to apologise to local residents and business for any inconvenience caused.”

The incident caps what has been a difficult month for the firm, after it was handed a £46,250 fine following a prosecution by the Environment Agency at Birmingham Crown Court (see letsrecycle.com story).

Trinity Street

Partly funded by WRAP, the £10 million Trinity Street facility processes commercial and industrial waste with residual material leftover further processed into refuse-derived fuel (RDF).

Opened in 2013, the site was described by Weir Waste as the largest C&I waste MRF of its kind in the UK. The MRF was designed by Blue Group and contains a range of equipment from Doppstadt, Kiverco and Titech’s auto sort 4 NIR technology.