West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service was called to the scene at 4.19pm, where it said the entire single-storey HWRC building was heavily smoke logged, causing heat and smoke damage.
The situation was brought under control after a firefighter entered the lorry cab and drove the vehicle out of the building, after which the flaming waste at the back of the lorry was extinguished.
100% of the building was damaged by smoke and 20% of the building suffered heat damage, according to the fire service. In addition, 75% of the waste lorry trailer was damaged by the fire, but there were no reports of any injuries.
A spokeswoman for the fire service said 14 fire crews from Crawley, Reigate, East Grinstead, Burgess Hill, Horsham, Partidge Green, Worthing and Shoreham, as well as a Red Cross Support Unit, attended the scene.
Firefighters used 45 breathing apparatus, three water jets, a monitor and an aerial ladder to tackle the flames and smoke throughout the rest of the day, which was scaled down to five pumps and one aerial ladder by early evening.
The fire service then left the scene after bringing the situation under control, handing the site back to Viridor just before 11pm that evening.
Firefighters then returned to inspect the site the following day (May 30) but the fire service spokeswoman said it was not investigating the incident.
Viridor said the HWRC reopened to the public yesterday and apologised for “any inconvenience that the site closure may have caused”.
A spokeswoman for Virdior Waste Management said: “The site has reopened and the team is currently carrying out investigations as to the cause.”
The firm, which operates 11 HWRCs across the county under a contract with West Sussex county council, said it would provide a fuller update on the incident in due course.
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