Over 100 firefighters from West Midlands Fire Service were called to the Smurfit Kappa recycling plant in Nechells, Birmingham on Sunday 12 June 2022.
major blaze
West Midlands Fire Service sent over 30 appliances to the scene of a major blaze where “there was around 8,000 tons of compressed cardboard on fire," according to Area Commander, Sam Burton. Firefighters are expected to be at the site for the next two days.
The fire was declared a major incident and saw the A47 Heartlands Parkway closed in both directions due to the fire and remains closed out of the city center.
paper and cardboard bales
Crews from stations across the West Midlands are working extremely hard to tackle the blaze using main jets"
A statement from West Midlands Fire Service on Sunday evening said, "At 19:40 on Sunday 12 June, we were called to an incident on Mount Street, Nechells, Birmingham. This incident involves a large amount of paper and cardboard bales on fire at a warehouse.”
"We currently have more than 20 fire appliances in attendance including two aerial hydraulic platforms, multiple fire engines, a high-volume water pumping unit, and one of our drones. Crews from stations across the West Midlands are working extremely hard to tackle the blaze using main jets.”
safe conclusion
"We are working closely with police and ambulance colleagues, the Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water, and on-site staff to bring the incident to a safe conclusion. There are no reports of any casualties. It's expected that crews will be in attendance throughout the night."
Fire crews are expected to be in attendance for at least the next 48 hours and investigations into the cause of the blaze will begin this week.
