A huge blaze at a waste transfer station in East London which has caused disruption for other recycling businesses in the area been brought under control, the London Fire Brigade said this morning (July 15).
However, efforts to tackle the incident at skip hire company G.B. Macks Skips were hampered by firefighters going on strike at 6am today, when contingency crews were called in.
The fire broke out just after midnight at a warehouse in Scarab Close, near Lower Lea Crossing in Canning Town, East London and affected hundreds of tonnes of waste material in a warehouse. At the height of the incident there were 70 firefighters at the scene. Large plumes of smoke from the incident led to nearby road closures and caused problems for the nearby Docklands Light Railway.
It affected the rubbish in our main shed, explained Ben Huckle, a director at G.B. Macks Skips. The material was from skips used by builders so was things like rubble, wood and cardboard. We dont know the cause of the fire.
The big problem we had is the Fire Brigade going on strike so had to bring in reserves. During the night they broke its back and then went on strike at 6am and it took 45 minutes to get the reserves in and by that time the fire had started up again.
Disruption
According to the London Fire Brigade, the fire affected an eight metre stack of about 400 tonnes of recycling materials and fire crews worked hard to stop it from spreading to neighbouring buildings on the industrial estate.
A number of recycling businesses are based near Canning Town and the fire is understood to have caused disruption in the area. The closure of nearby roads is understood to have affected access onto the industrial estate used by local recycling business Bywaters, which runs a large materials recycling facility.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: We are busy working with the London Fire Brigade to minimise the risk of harm to the local environment as a result of the fire in Canning Town.
A spokesperson for London Fire Brigade said: The Canning Town recycling warehouse fire is under control. We’ll remain at the scene throughout the morning damping down pockets of fire
Thirty-five firefighters remain on scene.
GB Macks Skips is an independent, family-run business established since 1972, with over 500 skips in stock available for hire. It services both commercial trade as well as domestic customers.
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