Cleveland Fire Brigade has decided to let a blaze at UK Wood Recyclings Wilton facility on Teesside burn itself out. The decision came largely because of concerns that spraying more water on the wood would cause more air pollution.
The fire was detected in the early hours of Monday December 23, with five fire crews from Cleveland Fire Service tackling the blaze at its peak.
Fire crews from the adjacent Sembcorp Utilities Wilton 10 biomass power plant were also involved in efforts to extinguish the fire.
While the fire has been brought under control, crews are due to remain on the site for a further four to five days to allow it to completely burn itself out.
UK Wood Recycling supplies recovered wood chip to the Wilton 10 Boiler, which generates electricity for the national grid, as well as manufacturing other recycled products. The company opened its site at Redcar, adjacent to the Wilton 10 boiler, in 2006.
The North Eastern company, which was originally set up by Hadfield Wood Recyclers, is to launch an investigation into the cause of the fire once it has been extinguished, although it is not believed to be suspicious.
Apologies
Gary Jones, site manager for UK Wood Recycling, said: “UK Wood Recycling would like to apologise to local residents and businesses for the on-going issues that have been caused by this fire.
“Our immediate concern has obviously been with regards to the impact this incident has had on local residents and our staff, especially as it has happened during the Christmas break. A full investigation will be carried out once the fire is out.
“Thankfully this has not affected our processing capacity and we would like to thank Cleveland Fire Brigade and SembCorp Utilities Fire Service for the amazing job they have done and continue to do to control the situation.”
UK Wood Recycling accepts all grades of non-hazardous wood such as kitchen units, pallets and doors at the site, from which it uses lower grade material to produce fuel for the Sembcorp boiler.
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The material is cleaned and blended by UK Wood Recycling, before being sent to the Wilton 10 plant.
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