Envar Composting: Fire still burning after a month
- Published
The fire at Envar Composting has been burning since New Year's Eve
A fire is still burning at a recycling plant more than a month after it first broke out.
Crews were called to Envar Composting, in Bluntisham, near St Ives, Cambridgeshire, on 31 December.
Teams from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Environment Agency (EA) are now managing the fire as a "controlled burn".
The company said it was "not an ideal situation". Residents have been advised to keep doors and windows shut.
The fire was found in the organic garden and food waste stores of the facility, which processes 105,000 tonnes of material every year.
Getting the incident under control had been "challenging, but progress does continue to be made", the fire service said.
The company uses a "windrow" composting system at the site, where organic waste is piled up in long rows in the open air and turned regularly.
Local residents have been warned to keep doors and windows shut as the smoke continues
A spokesman for Envar Composting said the operation involved digging small piles out of the stacks using heavy machinery and covering it in water, before moving it to a safe area.
"We are all aware that this is not an ideal situation," it said in a statement.
"The smoke and the odour are unpleasant for all the residents that have been impacted. The weather conditions have also not helped the situation as staff cannot operate heavy machinery safely when smoke and steam are limiting visibility."
A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said it was continuing to contain and monitor water run-off from the site, but that the burn was likely to continue until "the end of next week".
Envar Composting said any "adverse impact" on the surrounding area was being closely monitored by various organisations, and that the cause of the fire was under investigation.
The 'controlled burn' at Bluntisham has been ongoing since the New Year
- Published1 October 2018
- Published18 May 2018
