Firefighters tackle blaze at wood recycling plant

FIREFIGHTERS tackled a blaze yesterday that had been burning since the early hours of the morning at a waste wood recycling facility.

South Wales Wood Recycling said the fire had affected a segregated pile containing an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 tonnes of recycled woodchip at its site at Heol Llan, Coity, Bridgend.

A spokesman said that they were working with partners, including the fire service, “to bring the incident to a swift conclusion”.

Fire crews were called to the scene shortly before 3.30am and used hose reel jets to tackle the flames from a neighbouring field, while contractors on site moved the affected woodchip.

A spokeswoman for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: “The cause of the fire will be investigated.”

A South Wales Police spokesman added the fire was not being treated as suspicious.

Maesteg fire station manager Ian Gobourn said: “The fire service is working with Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Water and suppressing any outbreaks of flame should they occur.”

This is the third fire experienced by South Wales Wood Recycling in the last 12 months.

The plant at Alexandra Dock in Newport experienced a fire that blazed for two months last autumn and piles of woodchip dumped on the site of a former power station in the Llynfi Valley by SWWR burned for almost two weeks earlier this year.

A spokesman for SWWR said: “The company is working with Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Water and South Wales Fire and Rescue Service to ensure the impact to both the environment and nearby communities is minimised.”