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Sackers adds 24-hour patrol at Great Blakenham after second fire

Metals recycling company Sackers has added a 24-hour fire watch patrol team at its site in Great Blakenham, near Ipswich, after suffering a second fire in as many months this weekend.

The fire service was called to the scene shortly after 03:00 on 11 February and tackled the blaze throughout the night

Suffolk Fire and Rescue explained that crews were called to a “large fire” at the site just after 03:00 on Saturday (11 February) and worked throughout the night to bring the blaze under control.

Around 18 crews were in attendance at the scene, but this was scaled down at 09:00, before leaving later that day.

Some local train services were halted, but were restarted later on Saturday “under caution”.

As seen below, Incident Commander Ian Mallet provided an update from the fire service on Twitter.

Opening

A spokesperson from Sackers explained that the company was running as normal again today (13 February) .

The spokesperson added: “We are still unclear on how the fire started, and the police are still investigating the cause. Until we know more, we are unable to comment further on the fire. “However, due to the nature of the industry we are in, we are at higher risk of fires, and therefore we have an Environment Agency approved Fire Prevention Plan in place.

“In addition to these measures, with immediate effect, we have implemented a 24-hour fire watch patrol on-site, to complement the remote thermal heat monitoring that is already in place. We engage regularly with the Fire Service and Environment Agency to address what extra measures we can take, which is ongoing.

“Again, we want to thank the fire service, our staff and the other businesses who have reached out offering their support to get us through this challenging time.”

Site

The fire on Saturday comes less than a month after crews spent around eight hours on the scene tackling a blaze, which the company said was likely caused by a battery (see letsrecycle.com story).

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