Ravensthorpe tip fire is finally out

Mar 10 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

FIRE crews have finally put out a blaze on a huge waste tip – more than a month after it started.

Now a top-level inquiry has started to see what caused the incident and what action may now be taken.

Environment Agency officers suspended the waste licence for the site between Dewsbury and Ravensthorpe as fire crews battled day after day to tackle the blaze in many hundreds of tonnes of waste material.

Louis Harvey, Environment Agency team leader, said: “We’ve been working closely with the Fire and Rescue Service and Kirklees Council on this incident, and we were pleased to have been able to help firefighters reach the seat of the blaze.

“We are now in discussions with the site’s permit holder and investigating further action.”

The agency may well take court action against the owners of the site.

The deep-seated fire had been burning since February 7 despite the efforts of dozens of firefighters using specialist equipment.

Fire broke out at the site in Ravenswharf Road, Scout Hill, in a huge mound of rubbish and West Yorkshire firefighters have been working around the clock to extinguish it.

Three fire engines and an aerial appliance have typically been there every day, tying up hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of equipment.

The fire service could not afford to let the fire burn itself out due to the proximity of local houses and industrial premises.