Avon Fire and Rescue Service has praised the work of crane operators at Sims Group’s Avonmouth metal recycling site, in helping to bring a large fire there under control.
And, latest reports from the fire service are that at midday on 6 October, smoke and steam from the incident at the Royal Edward Dock has “significantly reduced”. Crews were remaining on the scene but the number of appliances has been reduced. At the height of the blaze two turntable ladders were in use as water towers.
Avon Fire & Rescue Service: “Sterling work so far from the crews and the crane operators at Avonmouth”
Crews were mobilised from across the Bristol region to the fire at Avonmouth and the fire service estimated that “20,000 tons of scrap metal were involved.” The material is thought to be feedstock for the fragmentiser on the site.
Smoke
The fire service advised the closure of windows and doors in the area and that smoke was affecting visibility on the M49 and M5 motorways. But, a wider emergency for the area was not sounded. The fire service explained: “Following multi-agency meetings, it was decided not to activate the Severnside Sirens as the site does not fall under COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) regulations.”
The Sims site receives, processes and recovers ferrous and non-ferrous metals from scrap and acts primarily as a source of ferrous feedstock for the steel manufacturing industry in the UK and abroad.
St Andrews Road will remain open at this time but people should drive with caution. Crews continue to fight the fire using turntable ladders, the High Volume Pump and other support.
— Avon Fire & Rescue Service (@AvonFireRescue) October 5, 2020
Permit
Last September it was reported on an Environment Agency permit variation that Sims had made a business decision to significantly invest in the site with the aim of improving the site and their operational processes. This included the introduction of a new pre-shredder to process all automotive baled material before shredding.
In terms of the Fire Prevention Plan for the site, last year the Agency commented in its note on changes for the permit that Sims had submitted an FPP with the permit, but remarked that it hadn’t “assessed or approved the document” – the Agency also noted that the variation did not increase the risk of fire. The Agency continued: “We do recognise that the site should have an approved Fire Prevention Plan and we will ensure through ongoing compliance actions that this is produced and assessed in line with our guidance on Fire Prevention Plans.”
Sims Group has said it will be issuing a comment on the fire incident as well as the latest position on its FPP for the site.
The post Praise for Sims crane operators in Avonmouth blaze appeared first on letsrecycle.com.
Source: letsrecycle.com Metal
