Compost fire still burning after a week

The compost pile is made up of mainly tree trunks and branches

Firefighters tackling a fire at a composting site in Cornwall that has been burning for more than a week are "in for the long haul", a fire service spokesman says.

The fire at the Greenspot Garden Waste Centre at Higher Kergilliack Farm near Falmouth has been burning since Monday 30 September.

Firefighters described the compost pile as about 100m (328ft) by 20m (66ft) and probably the height of a two-storey building.

Crews are having to pull the pile apart due to it being made up of mainly tree trunks and branches, which they say cannot easily be extinguished by water.

'Quite challenging'

Martyn Addinall, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service station manager at Falmouth, who is in charge of the incident, said the fire was "deep-seated".

"We can't just keep putting water on top because it runs away, so our tactic is to get in amongst it and start pulling it apart," he said.

"It's found its way inside the pile, so every time we dig more of the pile away, we find that everything within it is involved in fire.

"We are making progress; however, it is slow progress as it is quite a challenging incident."

Extra staff

Mr Addinall said extra staff had been called in to help cover the rest of Cornwall.

"I've never had a job like this," he said.

"Usually we are very reactive; we turn up to an incident and it will be out within hours or a day.

"We are in for the long haul, unfortunately."

He added: "It is going to take time. I would think within the next couple of days we will have a good idea of what timescales we'll be working with."

The fire service said all possible causes would be investigated once the fire had been dealt with.