26th September

Fire Sparks Major Safety Response

Column of black smoke spreading over the area

Residents were told to close windows and doors as a 200m column of smoke from a blaze at a waste processing plant billowed over their homes.

Police, firefighters, the Health Protection Agency and the Environment were called after burning plastic, paper and cardboard at Blackbridge Farm, Burton Latimer, forced thick, black smoke over Cranford, Grafton Underwood and Geddington yesterday.

Neighbour Murray Scott, 54, said: It was fairly scary because we know that they are processing waste and goodness knows what’s in that waste. “I know the people on the other side of the road and they are suffering because of it. One of them came past absolutely distraught.”

The fire service, which had a third of its force tackling the blaze and needed support from Bedfordshire, considered ordering the closure of the A14 as the cooling plume dipped.

The A6 between Cranford Road and the A14 junction and Kettering Road, Burton Latimer, were both closed for several hours as firefighters pumped water from the Morrisons distribution centre a mile away. The huge operation was launched after a storage facility the size of half a football pitch containing waste and machinery caught fire. The cause is under investigation.

Up to 12 fire engines from across the county and specialist units were on site at any one time.

Paul Greenwood, one of the numerous senior officers on the scene, said: “The main difficulty has been water supply. There are no immediate water supplies around the area. We have had to put in a water relay with hose lines for 1.6km. It’s a large-scale operation. The difficulty with the water supply means we need a lot of resources."

27th September

Investigation to Find Cause of Huge Blaze

The blaze

Fire investigators have started the task of working out what started a huge blaze at a waste processing plant in Burton Latimer.

Nearly 90 firefighters were called to the fire in the main storage shed at Blackbridge Farm on Sunday morning. The crews working alongside police, the Health Protection Agency and the Environment Agency tackled the fire before successfully containing it to the large facility.

Yesterday they turned to the job of moving surrounding storage waste to avoid the flames spreading to nearby buildings. The crews stopped the task when it got dark, but were expected to start again this morning. The A6 remained closed.

Kettering Fire Station manager Warren Ellison said: “Generally, this is a safe county in terms of fires, so when we do get something as sizable as this, it obviously gets a lot of attention. We are, with partnering authorities, equipped to deal with this and have managed to contain the fire without causing any danger to the public.”

Neighbours were told to shut windows and doors at the height of the fire, but yesterday this was relaxed as the smoke died down.

Thick black smoke causing problems	Proximity of housing in the area

However, main roads, including the A6 between Cranford Road and the A14 junction were closed overnight as firefighters brought in extra water using large hose lines.

Think Environment employs about 20 staff at the farm site. Nobody except security officers was on the site when the fire broke out.

Commercial director Iain Bomberg said: “The site is still under the control of the fire service and we have permitted access.

“We are working with them and all the other authorities fully to establish the cause of the fire. It is unclear when we will be able to begin operating again at this early stage.”