The company noted that the fire was “small” in size and was controlled using an on-site sprinkler system.
The blaze started at about 5pm on Monday 9 May 2016 and according to the London Fire Brigade, the blaze was “considerable” in size but was brought under control by 8.19pm on the same day. Fire crews from Wennington, Dagenham and Barking attended the fire.
The fire service said that there were no injuries and that the cause of the fire is under investigation. In a statement, it said: “A single storey warehouse containing around 15,000 tons of granulated waste plastics was damaged by the blaze, but thankfully no one was injured.”
However, the initial material description is now understood to be incorrect both in terms of material type and volume as Shanks explained in a statement.
Sprinkler system
The company told letsrecycle.com: “A small fire occurred in the storage shed at our Frog Island facility in East London on Monday evening. The fire broke out in an area where approximately 250 tonnes of waste was stored but the fire only affected a small proportion of this waste. The fire was controlled using our on-site sprinkler system and the fire brigade were called to assist with removing waste from the building and dousing it with water.”
Shanks noted that normal operations resumed the day after the fire. It added: “No employees were harmed and there was no damage to the building or any of our equipment. We were in contact with the Environment Agency after the fire and, since all contaminated surface water was contained within the site, it had no adverse impact on the environment.”
The fire comes less than two years after a severe blaze badly damaged the MBT plant at Frog Island (see letsrecycle.com story).
Register for free to comment