European Metal Recycling (EMR) – which owns and operates the site off Landor Street near the city centre – has apologised to the local community for the “disruption and concern” they may have experienced.
The metal recycling company explained that the situation had been made more difficult by the fire starting just after a bank holiday – when more material would have been sitting on site “a little longer than normal”.
West Midlands Fire & Rescue Service left the yard at around 3.30pm yesterday (31 March) after finally extinguishing the blaze which began on Tuesday afternoon.
At its height, 100 firefighters, 17 fire engines and three hydraulic platforms were used to bring it under control.
Around 500 properties in the area were initially left without power after overhead cables were damaged – but was eventually restored by Western Power over the course of the first evening.
The cause of the incident has been ruled by the fire service as ‘accidental’ – resulting from a spark from either a vehicle battery or metal, which ignited combustable materials within the pile.
Apology
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Graeme Carus, director of business development at EMR, expressed his apologies to those affected and thanked the fire service and the site staff who worked through the night to assist them.
He said: “There will be a review and we will work with the authorities closely on that to see if the cause of the fire can be more precisely identified.
“We have been operating on site for the past two days and have been processing the fire damaged material so it can be removed from site. We will be fully open to the trade from 07:30 on Monday (4 April). The fire was contained to the unprocessed material feed and there has been no material damage to plant and equipment.”
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