Crews continue to make good progress removing burnt waste from site of major fire in Lancaster

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Firefighters are on-hand to dampen down any hotspots to prevent the fire from reigniting.

“Fire crews are regularly checking the waste with thermal imaging cameras, which highlight areas that are too hot compared to the ambient temperature.

“Remaining waste is also being separated into individual piles to further reduce fire risk.

“The smoke plume is now minimal at the site.

“However, please continue to keep windows and doors closed if you do smell any smoke.

“For safety, please keep away from the area while crews work.

“Thank you once again to all local residents and businesses for your support as we strive to bring this incident to a close a quickly as possible.”

Firefighters said earlier this week they’re confident the fire will be out by the end of the week.

Firefighters have been on site at the former A1 Supa Skips building on Port Royal Avenue on the Lune Industrial Estate for more than two weeks since the alarm was raised just after 5.30am on Sunday, December 3.

Last week Lancaster City Council revealed they were pledging a further £650,000 from council reserves to help speed up the work needed to resolve the ongoing fire, in addition to £262,000 of funds already agreed.

Station Manager Steve Cheetham, said: "Due to the additional funding Lancaster City Council put towards this incident, this work has been extended and we are now confident that the fire will be extinguished by the end of the week.

"Over the weekend, the smoke plume had reduced significantly but as the waste is removed from the site today there may be small pockets of smoke but firefighters should be able to get on top of this quickly so the disruption to the residents and businesses are kept to a minimum.

"Residents and businesses may continue to smell the waste as it is disrupted but air quality monitoring will continue to take place and we will work with other agencies to update any changes to our health advice, if it is needed.

"For now we continue to advise people to stay away from the site and keep windows and doors closed if they can smell the smoke or waste.

"We appreciate the support we have received from our partner agencies over the last two weeks and, from you, the public.

"We understand that this has affected local residents and businesses but we are doing all we can to make sure this fire will be extinguished in the next few days."

A major incident was declared earlier this year following other fires at the site, and a multi-agency task force the Lancashire Resilience Forum, including the Environment Agency, Lancashire County Council, Lancaster City Council, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and Lancashire Police, was set up.

Follow the latest updates on the fire at the former Supaskips site visit https://www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/commericial-building-fire-in-lancaster/