Third fire at Wem tyre yard

Thick plumes of acrid smoke billowed into the summer skies over a north Shropshire town for the third time in 15 months as more than 40 firefighters battled a blaze at an industrial unit.

Crews from across Shropshire went to Kingpin on Wem Industrial Estate after an estimated 20 to 30 tonnes of shredded rubber went up in flames at about 1.15pm yesterday.

The fire continued through the night with a multi-agency meeting on the incident due to take place today.

Fire service officials said the fire could take days to fully extinguish, despite being smaller than a fire involving 200 tonnes of rubber at the same site last September.

Martin Timmis, head of operational response at Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Our initial response had to be increased to allow us to deal with environmental issues there are with this site.

Rapidly

"There is no indication of what started it but we will be investigating the cause with the owners."

Bill Nevett, industrial estate manager, said the fire took hold rapidly. He added: "I've watched the CCTV tapes and, within three minutes we went from no smoke at all to an incredible amount of smoke. We have a westerly wind so it's not blowing over the town, fortunately. It's a much smaller pile of tyres than last time. I would say it's 10 to 15 per cent the size of the last one."

He said: "It's acrid smoke and it contains cyanide so it's alarming to see children and their parents coming for a closer look on the fields at the back of the estate but I would warn them not to do it as they run the risk of breathing it in."

Simon Alton, Shropshire Council spokesman, said today: "Air monitoring from the previous fire at the site showed the smoke was not dangerous, but people are advised to keep doors and windows closed as it is dirty and unpleasant."

By Tom Johannsen