Aberdeen fire crews called after rubbish goes up in flames

Around 100 tonnes of rubbish went up in flames at an Aberdeen industrial estate today.

A fire broke out at 7.52am in Suez’s Sclattie transfer station at Bankhead Industrial Estate, which contained approximately 200 tonnes of waste.

Four appliances and an incident support vehicle attended the incident, and around 25 firefighters were drafted in to tackle the blaze using hose reel jets.

Some of the rubbish inside the warehouse was transferred out using a digger to allow crews to extinguish the flames.

Nobody was injured as a result of the incident.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s incident commander, Group Manager Ally Birkett, confirmed the fire had been brought under control but said crews would remain at the scene for several hours.

He said: “We got a call shortly before 8am informing us that there was some household rubbish on fire in a warehouse.

“Crews immediately tried to extinguish the fire using jets and breathing apparatus.

“Mechanical cover was provided by Suez to remove the waste to the open and allow us to extinguish it.

“It is too early to say what has caused the fire. Our main priority at this stage is to extinguish it.

“We are making good progress but we will be at the scene for a number of hours.”
A spokesman for Suez confirmed it was assisting the fire service and announced an investigation would be launched into the incident.

He said: “Fire crews were called to Sclattie Transfer Station just before 8am this morning after reports of a fire. Our health and safety procedures were implemented straight away to ensure that there were no injuries and no structural damage to buildings.

“Waste material is currently being doused as a precaution. An investigation will take place to determine what caused the fire.”