RECYCLING LIVES HIT BY FIRE AT PRESTON SHREDDER SITE

MVDA member Recycling Lives recently suffered a major fire at its scrap metal shredder site (Longridge Road, Preston, Lancashire).

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service was called to the site where firefighters found that a pile of cars, approximately 30m x 20m was alight.  15 fire engines and other specialist equipment from across the county, & 100 firefighters, were called to the incident.  Firefighters managed to contain the fire from spreading to other piles of recycling and none of the shredding and sorting equipment on the site was damaged.  However, the site was closed the next day & customers were diverted to one of the companies other sites.

The cause of the fire is not currently clear.

Recycling Lives said that due to planning permission restrictions on the site, the main processing machinery, a state-of-the-art metal fragmentizer, can only operate within the hours of 7:30am - 2pm. So, in order to maximise processing efficiency, scrap metal must be stored beyond the volumes they would ideally wish.

Steve Jackson, chief executive of Recycling Lives said: “Thanks to the exceptional work of firefighters and the outstanding health and safety practises at Recycling Lives, the fire was quickly contained and there have been no injuries or damage to machinery. We are incredibly grateful to the firefighters and other emergency services who have helped us to deal with the incident and we will continue to support their operations in any way we can.

“We would also like to extend our thanks to our customers who have been sending messages of support, particularly our neighbours.”