Lancaster City Council's Mark Cassidy and Area Manager Neil Taylor provide joint update on former SupaSkips fire
Joint update from Mark Cassidy at Lancaster City Council and Area Manager, Neil Taylor following the fire at the former SupaSkips in Lancaster.
Transcript
00:00 Hello, I'm Mark Cassidy and I'm the Chief Officer for Planning and Climate Change at Lancaster City Council.
00:05 Everyone at the Council and the local community is extremely grateful to our colleagues at Lancashire Fire and Rescue
00:12 for their work to control the blaze here at the former Super Skips building.
00:16 The Council is working closely with them and a number of other agencies including Lancashire County Council,
00:23 the Environment Agency and Lancashire Police to manage the incident and bring it under control.
00:28 One of the issues that's impeding the firefighting efforts is a collection of lean-to structures and outbuildings
00:35 within the site's boundary which are blocking access to the main building.
00:40 These outbuildings also contain waste which could itself catch fire and make the situation worse.
00:46 To aid the firefighting efforts, the City Council has agreed to contribute to the costs of clearing and removing these outbuildings.
00:53 The Council has committed just over a quarter of a million pounds towards the initial stages of this work.
00:59 The incident has already greatly affected local residents and businesses and the longer it continues,
01:06 the greater the risk to those fighting the fire and to the wider community.
01:10 By demolishing these buildings, our colleagues at Lancashire Fire and Rescue will have greater access to the main location of the fire
01:17 and improved chances of successfully managing the incident.
01:21 Hello, I'm Neil Taylor, Area Manager for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service
01:26 and I'm here at the former Super Skip site in Lancaster following the fire which started on Sunday morning.
01:33 Over the last few days, we have been continuing to extinguish the fire which involves approximately 13,000 tonnes of commercial waste.
01:43 As Mark has just announced, Lancaster City Council have agreed to fund the demolition of the outbuildings at the site.
01:50 We're really grateful for the support of Lancaster City Council.
01:54 This will provide our firefighters with greater access to the site.
01:58 In turn, this will enable us to extinguish this fire faster.
02:03 The deep-seated fire continues to produce a smoke plume and residents are advised to keep their windows and doors closed if they can smell smoke.
02:12 The road closures, including Europa Way, are still in place and access to the industrial park is limited.
02:19 With the extra machinery arriving on the site for the demolition work,
02:23 we continue to ask the public to assist by staying away from the area for their own safety
02:28 and to avoid hindering emergency operations at the site.
02:32 We're in constant communication with Lancaster City Council, the Environment Agency, Lancashire Constabulary,
02:39 United Utilities, UK Health and Security Agency and Lancashire County Council
02:45 to bring this incident to a safe conclusion as quickly as possible and keep disruption to local residents and businesses to a minimum.
02:52 I would like to thank residents and businesses for their continued support. Thank you.