Second fire at testing centre

FIRE broke out at a vehicle testing centre for the second time in four days after batteries being charged started smouldering.

Three fire crews from Hinckley and Nuneaton attended the incident at Horiba Mira, in Higham on the Hill, near Hinckley, at 11.25am on Thursday last week.

The fire was in a single-storey building on the site where the batteries were on charge as part of a test.

The fire service said: “Lithium batteries had been left on charge and were believed to have caught fire inside the building.

“All batteries involved in fire were confirmed to be extinct.

“The batteries were smothered in copious amounts of sand and left in situ.

“On-site staff using a digger to remove the batteries and sand from building.”

A company spokeswoman said: “An incident with a vehicle battery module, which was being prepared for a routine test, occurred.

“When the module began to smoke, staff at Horiba Mira evacuated the building, raised the alarm at 11.15am and the fire service promptly attended at 11.25am with three appliances.

“The battery module, which developed a local fire within the pack, was covered in sand and removed from the building.

“The fire service remained to monitor the module until 2pm. There were no casualties.

“Battery module testing is a key service which Horiba Mira offers to the automotive industry.

“This is carried out during a battery’s development, so problems can be found and eradicated before the hardware goes to market.”

On Sunday, May 24 a larger fire started accidentally in a temporary storage building leading to 10 fire engines and four specialist fire service vehicles being sent to the site just before 2pm.

The fire service said 15 cars, two trailers and a fork-lift truck were destroyed in the blaze, which was out by 4pm.