Dundee’s waste-to-energy recycling plant will be closed for several weeks following a serious fire at the Baldovie plant.
More than 30 firefighters battled a huge blaze that began in the fuel store just before 5am on Wednesday and caused a large conveyer belt ferrying waste to the incinerator to collapse.
Operators Dundee Energy Recycling Ltd said the Forties Road site will be out of action for several weeks.
DERL managing director Alan Jones said: ”We cannot praise Tayside Fire and Rescue enough for the professional and effective way they have worked in conjunction with our own teams to bring this incident swiftly under control.
”Having launched an investigation, our priority now is to safely remove the 350 tonnes of waste from the fuel store where the fire started. This will allow us to assess the full extent of the damage then begin repairs as quickly as possible.”
Throughout the day, the plant’s fire deluge systems continued to dowse down the waste-derived fuel store to allow waste to be safely removed.
Tayside Fire and Rescue sent five appliances as well as a mobile command unit and an aerial platform to the outbreak, which was tackled by more than 30 firefighters.
The alarm was raised by the incinerator’s staff who spotted the flames on the plant’s CCTV system.
Crews remained on site for several hours checking for fire spread and tackling small pockets of fire. Officers returned at 11.30am to launch an investigation into the fire alongside plant management.
Kingsway East station manager Bruce Farquharson said: ”Our firefighters worked very hard in extremely hot, hazardous conditions, in a smoke-logged building. An investigation will be launched to establish the cause of the fire but there’s no reason to think there’s anything untoward or any malicious involvement.”
Night shift workers from the Aerospace Tooling works across the road gathered to watch the drama unfold.
Kenny Farmer said: ”We went out for a look and it was really well up. There’s a conveyor belt that comes up between the buildings and there were flames leaping from that, and loads of thick black smoke.”
DERL added that there were no casualties and there was no cause for alarm by residents. The fire safety systems worked effectively and the fire did not spread to other buildings.
Dundee City Council, DERL’s partners, said the fire will not affect waste collection as contingency plans will swing into action.
The plant, which burns a large amount of the city’s waste and feeds the resultant energy into the national grid, has been struck by several fires in recent years.
Last June a blaze broke out in the transfer station which handles refuse on its way into the centre, and firefighters were at the plant again in August 2010 after an oil leak caused a fire in hydraulic systems.
A probe was also launched after two fires at the plant in 2006 one in January, caused by an explosion in a milling machine, and one in October in the same store room which caught fire on Wednesday.