Firefighters tackling huge Belfast Harbour estate blaze

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Crews expect to remain at the scene until Wednesday

Dozens of firefighters are still dealing with a blaze in the Belfast Harbour estate area.

Crews arrived at the Clearway Disposal scrap metal recycling business on East Twin Road at 13:02 GMT on Tuesday.

Thick black smoke has been billowing from it since then and two aerial appliances and a number of specialist appliances remain at scene.

"We are looking at a number of days to extinguish this significant fire," group commander Paul Rodgers said.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle on Wednesday, Mr Rodgers said firefighters are "working tirelessly to move product from the site and then move it to another area to get into the pile itself".

"It is approximately 10,000 tonnes of metal and waste product and we are just still working through that at the moment," he said.

Fire in Belfast Harbour estateImage source, Pacemaker
Image caption,

The fire is at a scrap metal recycling plant

Fire in Belfast Harbour estateImage source, Pacemaker
Image caption,

Fire crews arrived at the scene shortly after 13:00 GMT

The group commander said the fire "may not look as visually intense" as it did on Tuesday, but it "is still as bad as it was yesterday".

"It is approximately 80 to 100m long and about 40m wide, and we are still at the minute working around the periphery to try and get into the most intense part of the fire itself," he said.

Local residents are being asked to stay at home and keep windows closed.

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Fire in Belfast Harbour estateImage source, Pacemaker
Image caption,

Thick black smoke was seen billowing from the site

Fire in Belfast Harbour estateImage source, Pacemaker
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The clear day made the fire even more visible