The blaze began on the evening of Friday May 15, 2009 and caused damage to more than 50% of the sorting part of the plant. Roof areas were also damaged and some recyclables caught fire. But, an adjacent workshop was undamaged and vehicles near the MRF also escaped the blaze.
Berkshire Fire and Rescue told letsrecycle.com it was a serious incident and that seven fire engines were brought in to tackle the blaze including a high velocity pump, control and command units and an aerial ladder vehicle.
Simon Smith, station manager for Berkshire Fire and Rescue said: “The blaze was contained within the building but because of the large amount of smoke and potential for collapse of the roof we did not enter and fought it from the outside. More than 50% of the machinery has been damaged and it is the steelwork mainly which remains.”
Mr Smith added: “Some of the waste material caught fire and today (Sunday morning) it is still smouldering and we are turning it over with a loader and soaking it through.”
The station manager said that while the building did not have sprinklers it did have a drencher system and this was turned on manually and correctly by Grundon staff when the fire started. He also said that the blaze was never out of control but because of the nature of the materials involved it took time to extinguish it.
Lakeside
Fighting the fire was helped by using thousands of litres of water from a nearby lake from which the Lakeside energy from waste facility takes its name. This EfW plant – owned in a joint venture by Grundon and Viridor – is about 750 metres from the MRF and construction work at the weekend was not interrupted by the efforts to bring the fire to an end.
Grundon staff were on site at the weekend involved in organising the tankering from the site of huge volumes of water, as well as planning for the week ahead.
The company's other MRFs, at Beenham near Reading, Ewelme near Oxford and in Leatherhead, Surrey will receive material destined for Colnbrook which can handle 100,000 tonnes of material per annum. Among the local authorities which used the MRF are the London borough of Hillingdon and Spelthorne in Surrey. Colnbrook also receives substantial amounts of commercial waste from the London area.
A spokeswoman for Grundon confirmed on Monday, 18 May 2009 that as soon as the fire service deemed the site safe, expected on the 18 May, a transfer station would be established to receive recyclable materials for onward transfer to the company's other facilities.
Investigations into the cause of the fire will start once the site has been deemed safe and the fire is completely out.
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