A chemical fire engulfed parts of Cannock Chase in thick smoke as nearby residents and workers were warned to stay indoors.
More than 30 firefighters tackled the blaze at the Poplars landfill site run by Biffa Waste Services.
The fire broke out at about 12.10pm yesterday and the flames were still burning at 11pm.
Crews were at the Lichfield Road site this morning damping down.
Neighbouring businesses on Kingswood Lakeside business park were told to bring yard staff indoors to avoid the acrid fumes.The fire service set up an 800m exclusion zone as a precaution which created traffic problems.
Buildings within the site were evacuated but residents living nearby could stay in their homes.
No one was injured in the incident.
The fire is believed to have been started after an unidentified chemical was illegally dumped with 40 tonnes of sand.
Alf Wilson, of Staffordshire Fire Service said: “When firefighters arrived there was a small amount of chemical, within some silica sand, that was on fire but this was quickly dealt with.
“However there was also domestic waste spread over an area of approximately 20 square metres which was also on fire.
“Due to the plumes of smoke that were being created we asked people in the Lichfield Road and Heath Hayes area of Cannock to close windows and avoid going out as a precautionary measure.”
Barry Walton, of Biffa, said: “We will be carrying out a full investigation. The fire followed a delivery of 40 tonnes of silica sand. It is believed that this contained a combustible material that was not lawfully identified to us at Biffa.”
By Shaun Lintern
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3 Comments
Those claims re exclusion zone are such rubbish, we drove right past the gates during lunchtime. We live nearby, the fumes were choking, we were never warned to stay indoors, if it was that bad the police should have toured aound (at Biffa’s expense) with loadspeakers on cars warning us to stay indoors. The smell from the Tip was awful Thursday night even on Tesco Hawkes Green car park.
The residents of Cannock are always being criticised over the size of this huge eyesore - so what is with the private waste being dumped there? So the size of the mountain of rubbish IS NOT the fault of the locals but rather Biffa looking for extra sources of income; makes a mockery of all the recycling retoric doesn’t it?
We live in Heath Hayes and were never told at any time what the smoke was from, the smell was realy unbearable at times and around our house it was as if there was a thick fog…..as Julie says I also drove past the tip at 1.30pm and was not stopped or could not see any cordon around the area??????
I came home at dinner time by the tip no warnings were in place and at no time were we warned to stay in doors i live near tesco and the fumes were extremely strong, the smell was still in my house the next day, this tip is a time bomb waitnig to go up, we need to know what chemical we inhaled? anyone buying one of the new homes near the tip are suicidal, they should never had permission to build there not just because of the tip but it is to near the nature park, which is getting smaller due to Mr Pritchard.