The fire broke out at around 11PM at its Great Blakenham facility, and Sackers said due to a number of measures it took, it was extinguished around 90 minutes later with no injuries recorded.
Fire crews remained on scene until around 6AM, Suffolk Fire and Rescue said, with seven fire engines tackling the incident at its peak. The business reopened at around 7AM.
Measures included a concrete wall which contained the fire to one location and thermal cameras which detected the heat in a pile “within minutes”.
Cause
Sackers added that it believes the fire was caused by a lithium battery and reiterated the importance of disposing of these safely.
The business explained it can accept lithium batteries, but these must be notified and segregated separately in each delivery. However, it noted that there is a risk of them slipping into its raw material feedstock and potentially resulting in a fire.
With this in mind, Sackers said it has invested “a significant amount of money” in building “a robust” fire prevention plan in the last two years. This was “put in to play last night and stood up to the test,” the firm stated.
Prevention plan
A Sackers spokesperson told letsrecycle.com that “prevention is the main objective of the plan”, with containing the fire and preventing any contamination being the next priority if one occurs.
“Both measures worked incredibly well last night, and it allowed us to be back up and running as if it was business as usual by 7AM this morning,” they added.
Sackers then thanked the Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, local residents who reported the fire and staff who assisted the fire brigade, moving machines and shuffling metal around to contain the fire.
A huge thank you to the Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service who were absolutely amazing
- Sackers spokesperson
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