Crews from West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service were called to the Hunters waste site – which had formerly been occupied by Hunter Waste Management Ltd – at Queens Mill Road at 17:46 yesterday evening (18 August) after reports of a fire involving non-hazardous mixed household waste.
Ownership of the site, which houses a significant volume of waste, has changed hands this year – although the current owner of the site is not publicly known. The former owners are due in court in September over planning breaches at the site, in action brought by Kirklees council.
A total of five pumps from West Yorkshire were in attendance throughout Thursday night, with crews continuing to monitor the fire today. It is anticipated the fire could last some days.
Environment Agency
Environment Agency officers are also in attendance at the scene. Some residents living close to the site needed to be evacuated from their homes as a result of the fire last night.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “The Environment Agency is working with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue in response to the fire at the waste site known as Hunters, in Huddersfield. The waste that is burning is non-hazardous, mixed household waste.
“Our officers are on site, assessing the potential impact on the environment, including that posed by the fire water run-off. It appears that most of the run-off is entering the foul sewer, but there is a potential risk to the nearby River Holme, so we are investigating this risk further and will consider taking protective measures, if required. We will continue to actively monitor the situation on site.”
A spokesman for Kirklees council added: “Officers from our emergency team were on site last night helping in the evacuation of any residents, but thankfully very few people had to leave their homes. We will continue to push and support the Environment Agency as the main regulating body for the site to resolve the issues as soon as practicable.
“The council is also taking action against the previous operators of the business and the owners of the site and have a Court date in September regarding planning breaches at the site.
“We are advising residents to keep doors and windows closed if their home is in the path of the smoke. We are also requesting that air quality monitoring is carried out as soon as possible.”
Fires
The Huddersfield blaze is one of a number of separate fires to have hit the sector in the last seven days, including a major blaze at a waste transfer facility in West Dereham, Norfolk, run by Glazewing. The fire began on Saturday (13 August) and continued into this week (see letsrecycle.com story).
This was followed by a fire on Sunday at a waste transfer station at Weavings Lane, Dewsbury, run by Suez on behalf of Kirklees council.
According to West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service the blaze involved a single story building measuring 40m x 40m – with the fire having involved around 40% of the building. 60 firefighters were in attendance at the site, which used two ground monitors and four large jets.
The company has resumed operations on the site, although parts of the site have remained closed.
Earlier in August letsrecycle.com reported on fires that had hit Environcom’s Stourbridge WEEE processing site (see letsrecycle.com story) as well as at sites in Cornwall and Hampshire (see letsrecycle.com story).
Plymouth
And, on Wednesday night, crews from Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service were called to MVV’s energy from waste plant at Creek Road, Plymouth, after staff at the site had raised the alarm over a build-up of smoke at the premises.
When crews arrived shortly after 22:00 it was discovered that there was a fire in the waste bunker of the 245,000 tonnes per-year facility. According to the Fire Service, on-site staff removed the smouldering waste from the bunker using mechanical grabber, and crews checked the area using a thermal imaging camera.
Duty of care was handed back to the staff on-site that night.
Guidance
Fires at waste sites have been under intense scrutiny in recent years, with their continued recurrence recognised as a major problem within the sector. In a bid to combat the occurrence of fires at waste facilities the Environment Agency has amended guidance aimed at preventing fires at sites.
Fires at waste and recycling facilities will be under the spotlight at letsrecycle.com’s one day Fire Prevention and Control Conference at London’s QEII Centre on 9 November. Click here for more details.
The Fire Prevention Plan (FPP) guidance is an update on previous rules stipulating various restrictions on the storage and separation distances between piles of waste materials.
Published last month, the guidance states that waste operators must produce acceptable prevention plans in order to minimise the likelihood of fires erupting on-site or the outbreak spreading to neighbouring properties.
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