Two giant fires in successive nights continue worrying and costly trend of Black Country industrial blazes this year

On Thursday night an fireworks storage unit on Pleck Road in Walsall, opposite Walsall Manor Hospital, saw 11 fire engines, nearly 60 firefighters, two brigade response vehicles and a hydraulic aerial ladder platform dispatched by West Midlands Fire Service. Roads were closed and crews remained on site the following day dampening down what hours before was a raging inferno. 

Then just over 24 hours later 100 tonnes of scrap metal accidentally was set ablaze in Spring Road Industrial Estate, in Bilston, forced another major response from WMFS with six engines and 30 firefighters on the scene. Nearby residents were warned to keep their windows closed due to dangerous fumes and again there were crews still on site the following day. 

With austerity cuts cutting resources at the second biggest fire service in the country, West Midlands Fire Service bosses would have been breathing a sigh of relief the fires did not occur simultaneously.

Again, 2025 has followed the trend of industrial fires being the single biggest cause of fire incidents in the Black Country. Compared to other regions in the country there is a higher concentration of recycling companies, scrap yards and metal storage companies.

The year started with a major scrap yard blaze in West Bromwich, with firefighters tackling a fire on Phoenix Street. Local resident John Staines videoed the firefighters putting their lives on the line trying to extinguish the inferno.

Also in January, the consequences of scrap yard fires were on show when a fire took hold at around 2pm in the shredder of a scrap facility on Rabone Lane, Smethwick and the crews remained there until around 7pm. 

Now using the latest airborne technology WMFS used drones as part of the operation. Rabone Lane was still closed on Friday, with shops and businesses being hit economically due to scrap yard blazes.

Two years earlier, another scrap yard fire caused the closure of the Black Country Route, one of the busiest roads in the region. 

More than 40 firefighters were needed to beat the blaze at Enablelink, a scrap resale business in George Henry Road, Tipton. That fire caused the closure of Great Western Way, George Henry Road, and the Black Country Route, costing the town's economically an astronomical amount of money.

In March a fire at a Brierley Hill scrap yard could be seen for miles around. This time WMFS confirmed the fire was the result of arson, whereas the majority of industrial fires are accidental. 

A WMFS said: "This was believed to have been started deliberately."

However, nine months later and nobody has been prosecuted.