Crews from West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) were called to Aldridge, Birmingham, and Tipton at the beginning of January 2025, following several recycling centre fires
Emergency services were alerted to a “severe” fire at a waste management plant in Aldridge, Walsall, on 4 January 2025. Due to the “size and nature of the fire”, 10 fire appliances and around 60 firefighters were mobilised.
Reporting on the Biffa Waste Management incident, WMFS said: “The fire appears to have started in a recycling compactor with an unknown quantity of waste alight, which has generated a lot of smoke in the area.”
Residents were advised to keep doors and windows closed and stay away from the area as crews dealt with the incident. The service added that the recycling plant fire was a “complex incident, with a complex layout to manage”.
Firefighters used breathing apparatus and hose reel jets to access the premises, along with a hydraulic platform to help extinguish the fire. WMFS said a drone was also used for identifying hotspots, allowing crews to concentrate their efforts and bring the incident to a “swift conclusion”.
The service confirmed that all persons were accounted for.
On 5 January, at around 8.20am, firefighters were dispatched to Ab Waste Management on Bloomfield Terrace in Tipton, where a blaze was affecting approximately 30 tonnes of mixed recycling in an open bay.
Around 14 fire appliances were at the scene at the height of the fire, including crews from Tipton, Bilston, Brierley Hill, Dudley, Oldbury, West Bromwich, Smethwick, West Bromwich and Willenhall.
Firefighters utilised two hydraulic (aerial) platforms to tackle the flames, with WMFS reporting that crews worked to “extinguish and contain the fire to the area of origin”. On-site staff also assisted with the efforts, using diggers to remove all burnt material into the open yard, where it was damped down.
Crews remained at the site overnight, applying water to hotspots. As reported by BBC News, it is understood that the facility “deals with waste disposal and skip hire companies”.
On 7 January 2025, WMFS mobilised 40 firefighters and seven fire appliances to a scrap metal yard on Landor Street in Birmingham. The recycling plant was believed to have been housing 50 tonnes of materials. Crews from Highgate, Hay Mills, Aston, Ward End, Erdington, Ladywood, Handsworth, and Bournbrook fire stations worked throughout the night to extinguish the fire and monitor hotspots. Two brigade response vehicles and a hydraulic (aerial) platform were used to tackle the flames, with no reports of any casualties or injuries.
According to BBC News, the fire involved scrap metal and lithium batteries, and residents were urged to keep doors and windows closed due to the amount of smoke surrounding the scene.
The emergency effort was gradually scaled back, with the service confirming that the site would be “handed back to the site manager shortly”.
(Photograph by West Midlands Fire Service)