Recycling Centre Fires Causing
Huge Health Risk
A spate of blazes at recycling
centres raises the question of whether our drive for sustainability comes at a
price.
The night sky is painted orange, and a dark silhouette hovers on
an aerial platform, spraying water into the light, tackling a blaze that has
been burning for almost three days already. This isn’t a wildfire, or a
building burning, but tonnes of waste waiting to be recycled.
The fire at Bredbury Recycling Centre, near Manchester, is one
of at least five that IFSEC Global has been made aware of in August so far. It
broke out on Tuesday night, and as of Friday afternoon shows little sign of
abating. In his latest update, station manager Paul Whittaker speaks of meeting
with the police, the environment agency, and the council "to develop a
plan for the bank holiday weekend."
Meanwhile in Nottinghamshire, just yesterday, a fire broke out
at another recycling centre for the second time in three weeks. The first blaze
was sparked on Saturday, August 3, and took them over a week to bring under
control. Then yesterday, a second fire broke out in another part of the
recycling facility in Worksop.
So what is going on? Why are there so many fires, why do they
last so long, and don’t they present a risk to public health and safety?
Difficult to tackle
The why is difficult to answer, but undoubtedly the vast amount of combustible
waste, stored in close proximity and in tightly packed conditions, is a huge
contributor and has a large amount to do with why the fires last so long.
The fire is seated deep within a large amount of household waste
therefore simply putting water onto it meant that only the top was being damped
down, while the rest of it was still burning. The more water we put onto it,
the more smoke there is, and clearly this is a concern for anyone living
nearby.
In most cases firefighters are able to contain the fire and
extinguish the majority of the visible flames, but the fire will continue to
smoulder underneath the surface. The tactics that officers then use will be to
turn the bales and damp them down gradually. Coleman explained on Friday,
August 9:
At a meeting on site today, it was decided that the best way
forward is to break down the burning rubbish into smaller chunks, damping it down
as we go. The site owners will spend the weekend clearing enough space on site
for us to do this, and our crews will return on Monday to continue the fire
fighting operation.
For firefighters to leave the blaze, which is under control but
still burning, is common in these incidents, but it shows how vast an operation
this can often be.
Public health
Another significant problem
with these blazes is the public health concerns. Many recycling centres are in
central locations, unlike landfill sites, which are usually in an area with a
lower population density. When these fires break out, Public Health England has
to issue its usual advice. Indeed, we found this on each of the reports we read
about recent blazes:
Smoke consists of a mixture of gases, liquid droplets and solid
particles representing the decomposition and combustion products from fires.
Any smoke can be an irritant and as such, if people have to be outdoors, they
are advised to avoid outside areas affected by any smoke or ash or to limit the
time that they spend in them.
Some of the substances present in smoke can irritate the lining
of the air passages, the skin and the eyes. Respiratory symptoms include
coughing and wheezing, breathlessness, sputum (phlegm) production and chest
pain. If symptoms occur, people should seek medical advice or call NHS 111.
All of this means that firefighters have to work with scientists
in order to test the air quality and the makeup of any smoke-carried debris. #smethwickfire
The scale of the problem facing
fire services and public health officials was really underlined by a massive
fire in Smethwick, near Birmingham, on June 30, believed to have been caused by
a Chinese lantern. The incident was classed a “major incident” and saw 429
calls made to the emergency services -- more than three times the daily
average. The fire could reportedly be seen over 40 miles away.
In the weeks following the incident, West Midlands Fire Service
produced a remarkable video collating all of the data and information
it had on the major incident. In response, the issue of Chinese Lanterns was
debated in Parliament, and High Street shop Poundland stopped selling them. At
the end of the video they make the point that there are 57 recycling centres in
the West Midlands alone, which underlines the potential for incidents
continuing to stretch fire service resources.
Around 20 fires have struck West Midlands recycling centres this
year so far with another breaking out on Monday, August 5.
With so many recycling centres to protect from fire, how long
will it be until firefighters are unable to contain the blaze within the
confines of the site? With cuts facing fire services across the country, don’t
we need to tackle the causes of these fires before serious harm is done to a
community?
