Tyre blaze will be left to burn out

Around 15,000 tonnes of tyres at Newgen recycling plant in Sherburn in Elmet, near Leeds, went up in flames nearly two weeks ago on January 16 and caused a plume of black smoke around 1,000ft high which could be seen on satellite images released by NASA.

Public agencies including North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, North Yorkshire Police and local councils have met daily to monitor the situation and decided to allow the fire to burn out.

Fire service group manager Peter Hudson said: “At the moment the smoke is dissipating over a wide area and any pollution is being diluted to harmless levels, reducing the impact on the environment. This tactic will also reduce the amount of waste that needs to be removed when the fire is out.

“If the fire service were to try and put the fire out, it would require at least a week spent pouring millions of litres of water on to the fire. This would carry away contamination to water courses, underground water systems and concentrate high levels of pollution in the surrounding area whilst being difficult to monitor.

“It would also require the disturbance and turning over of the material on fire, resulting in particulates being blown in to the air and adding to the air pollution.

“The larger amounts of sludge and partially burnt tyres would then have to be disposed of elsewhere, depositing significant amounts of pollution and contaminated water which would run off the waste.”

A 51-year-old local man arrested in connection with the fire remains on bail pending further enquiries.