Fire crews battle blaze at Wednesfield corrugated cardboard producer
A road was closed off and multiple fire crews called out after a fire broke out at a Wednesfield industrial unit.
The fire on Wednesday (August 13) involved machinery at Onboard Corrugated Limited on Neachells Lane, with three fire engines first attending the scene at 3.53pm and a further three dispatched later.
Crews from Wednesbury, Wolverhampton, Tipton, Walsall and Fallings Park tackled the blaze, which was inside a warehouse, while all personnel from the site were evacuated safely, with no injuries reported.
The fire was confirmed as out around 5.45pm, but the site and the adjoining road remained closed off as crews dampened down the site, which measured 200 metres by 70 metres, and continued checks on hotspots, due to the number of paper rolls on site.
A later statement by the fire service said: "Crews successfully prevented the fire from spreading from its room of origin, which was within a single-storey factory measuring around 200m x 70m.
"Our presence on scene has been reduced, with damping down and turning over of waste taking place.
"Our fire investigation team have begun work to determine the cause of the fire."
West Midlands Fire Service group commander Matt Stanton said that an investigation into the cause would begin once the building had been ventilated.
He said: "At 3.53pm, we were mobilised to a fire in machinery at Onboard Corrugated Limited, with initially three fire engines attending the scene, which later became six on the request of a makeup, which meant 35 firefighters in total from Wednesbury, Wolverhampton, Tipton, Walsall, Bilston, Willenhall, and Fallings Park.
"This was a fire in a large building and while, to all intents and purposes, the fire is out, due to the nature of the cardboard rolls that were on fire, we will be for a number of hours dampening down and turning over, which is likely to last for a few hours as the rolls are quite large.
"No injuries were reported at the scene as everyone was accounted for very quickly in the incident and we have an investigation team here, which will be an ongoing activity and will have better access to the site once the site has been ventilated for smoke, which will also support a return to partial business for the company."
