Battery recycling firm G&P Batteries has reassured clients that operations at its Darlaston plant are continuing as normal today (January 14), after a fire broke out at the facility in the early hours of this morning.
West Midlands Fire Service received a 999 call about a fire at the site at 1:20am, with a total of 10 engines attending the call at its peak.
The fire broke out in a stack of lithium batteries, stored in an external area on the site, causing explosions and plumes of smoke which could be seen several miles away.
Around 50 fire fighters tackled the blaze, which spread across a 20 x 20 metre area of the site, and was extinguished at around 5am this morning.
Fire crews have now left the site, but West Midlands Fire Service is to monitor the situation over the next 48 hours to ensure that the fire does not reignite. Although the exact cause of the fire has yet to be identified, it is not thought to be suspicious.
A spokesman for the Fire Service said: It is standard practice for us to re-attend a site after a fire and officers will return to G&P throughout the next 48 hours to ensure that there are no hot spots and no fire starts again.
Damage
G&P Batteries has said that none of the buildings on the site have been damaged as a result of the blaze, and it has described the loss of waste battery stocks as minimal.
The companys managing director, Michael Green, said that the clean-up operation at the site is well underway, adding that deliveries and sorting of batteries will be continuing on schedule.
He said: At the height of the blaze, exploding batteries could be heard in the local area, which made the incident seem worse than it actually was. The efforts of the fire brigade meant the blaze was soon under control. A clean-up operation is now underway, although our day to day operations are continuing as normal.
A serious fire hit 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). The Optisort machinery was not affected by last nights fire.
Subscribe for free