One fire engine remains on site now (10.30 am) as damping down operations were underway.
No-one was injured and recycling and waste management firm WasteCare, based in Garforth, Leeds said business operations had been unaffected. The batteries were being stored prior to recycling.
The blaze, which was first reported on the morning of 3 December, severely damaged the 20×30 metre L-shaped building.
The fire service said that the blaze involved “a large quantity of batteries in the process of being recycled”. The service added that no-one was hurt in the fire and firefighters prevented the blaze spreading to the other half of the building and surrounding industrial units.
Speaking yesterday evening, incident commander Jim Butters said: “Crews were faced with a significant blaze involving several explosions but worked effectively to bring it under control quickly and prevent it spreading to surrounding properties. It is likely that firefighters will remain at the scene throughout the night.”
Storage
A spokesman for WasteCare said: “Smoke was reported rising from a storage outhouse at 10.15am yesterday morning at our facility at Elland. By the time the fire brigade reached site fire was visible from the roof.”
“The fire brigade acted swiftly to extinguish the fire and the area has now been made safe. The building has been used for the storage of used batteries awaiting recovery. The site is unmanned and no activity has taken place on the site in the last few weeks.”
He added: “The cause of the fire is yet unknown and an internal investigation is now underway. Although the roof of the building has been severely damaged the impact on operations is minimal.”
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