Battery recycling firm G&P Batteries has suffered a second fire in just over two weeks at its facility in Darlaston, West Midlands, after a stack of lithium batteries caught alight this afternoon (February 4).
West Midlands Fire Service received a 999 call about a fire at the site at 2:24pm, with 10 engines and around 50 fire fighters attending the blaze.
As of 4:30pm a spokesman for the fire service said that crews were still tackling the fire, but that it had largely been brought under control.
He added: The incident involves a severe fire on one of the units of the plant, consisting of lithium batteries. The fire has been surrounded and progress is being made in tackling the fire, but it is currently not certain how long we will be on the scene.
Paramedics from West Midlands Ambulance Service also attended the scene, with one person being treated on site. No details of the extent or cause of the persons injuries are yet available, but a spokesman for the ambulance service said that the person had not been admitted to hospital and that its paramedics had since been told to stand down from the site.
Damage
Todays fire follows a similar incident early on the morning of January 14, when a fire involving a stack of lithium batteries also caught alight. The resulting loss of waste battery stocks caused by the fire was described by the company as minimal (see letsrecycle.com story).
A spokesperson for the company said that the fire broke out when workers were sorting through damaged waste batteries from the January 14 and involved 700 kgs of material. As it contained lithium waste batteries, the material had been taken to a safe lithium waste battery store area to be dealt with and while this was happening it is believed an internal short circuit in one of the cells caused the fire.
Michael Green, managing director of G&P Batteries said: “It is a reality that dealing with hazardous materials such as batteries does carry a risk of fire. This latest incident is directly connected to the fire we had a couple of weeks ago, involving a single consignment waiting to be sorted.
“Material from that fire had been taken to our safe lithium battery storage area which is specially fitted with material to minimise damage and spread in the event of fire. We are pleased that this process seems to have worked well on this occasion.”
A serious fire hit also the site in March 2008, which caused significant damage to the Darlaston facility with over 90% of its buildings destroyed by the blaze (see letsrecycle.com story).
The facility is also home to the UKs first automated portable battery sorting line, installed in autumn 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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