FOCUS
Leading the fight
With a nationwide increase in waste fires in recent years,Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service talks us through its work to tackle them
there are around 300 fi res a year at UK waste and recycling sites. FRSs continue to work closely with partner agencies, including the Environment Agency (EA), Public Health England, the Health and Safety Executive and those who operate such facilities. Nationally, there has been an increase in
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the number of waste fi res, and the amount of societal waste produced – whether it be recyclable or not – continues to accumulate, piling up in warehouses and yards, where processing often struggles to keep pace. But the longer it sits there, the greater the chance of fi re, whether it be accidental or deliberate. A further concern is that we as a country
are no longer able to export our plastic waste to China. According to Greenpeace, British companies have shipped more than 2.7m tonnes of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong since 2012 – two thirds of the UK’s total waste plastic exports. But with China’s plastic ban having come into effect at the start of the year, the problem is only going to get worse. And with increased waste comes an increased risk of waste fi res.
16 NOVEMBER 2018
www.frmjournal.com
ASTE FIRES continue to be a pressing issue for fire and rescue services (FRSs) across the country. In fact,
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS)
is at the forefront of the fi ght against waste fi res, working closely with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Waste Fires Group, other waste industry regulators and local site operators to address a multitude of fi re safety issues related to the waste industry. This approach has enabled a three pronged
strategy, designed to reduce risk: prevention to reduce the risk of fires occurring, protection to mitigate the impact of any fi re and response to enhance the effectiveness of firefighting operations. As such, this has been successful in making
changes where required and has vastly improved the response in dealing with large scale waste fi res over recent years. It has resulted in incidents requiring as few as six fi re appliances, in addition to the platform ladder and high volume pump, when previous incidents of a similar scale would have required more than 30 appliances at the scene.
Understanding the causes
When tackling waste fires, it is essential to understand what causes them, as equipped with that knowledge, site operators can ensure
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