The Derby Evening Telegraph
DERBYSHIRE, England — A fire which had burned in a Derbyshire village for nearly two months has finally been put out.
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze, in a huge pile of recycled wood pulp at the old Stanton ironworks site, in Lows Lane, was extinguished yesterday.
The fire, which broke out on September 15, was at last beaten by a lengthy operation to bury and smother the remaining hot ash. About 60 firefighters were in attendance at the blaze for nine days when it was at its peak.
Karen Sanders, owner of The Little Acre Paddocks, also on Lows Lane, said she had been experiencing the fallout from the fire ever since it began.
She said: “I think it’s ridiculous that it was allowed to continue for that long and the impact it’s had on the local area has been dreadful. “I don’t live far away from the site and we’ve been putting up with the smoke ever since the fire started.
“I haven’t been able to hang out my washing or open my windows. “The air around here isn’t that good anyway, with it being a busy road with lorries going up and down it, but this has just added to it. I am worried about the long-term effects the fire might have had on the area. I’m glad it’s out but it’s taken so long.”
The final phase in extinguishing the fire, an operation which began on October 21, came after a meeting between the Environment Agency, Health Protection Agency, Derbyshire County Council and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue. Their final plan of action involved burying the hot ash on a site nearby.
This site was then covered with a non-combustible layer of foundry slag and sand.
The land on which the fire broke out was previously leased to Arcwood Recycling but site owner Saint Gobain PAM terminated the company’s lease after the blaze.
Saint Gobain is now in charge of the land.
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