Minutes:
The Deputy Chief Fire Officer introduced Group Manager Kirsty McCreesh who had been invited to provide a presentation to Members on the incident at the former Supa Skips site in Lancaster.
GM McCreesh advised that the location of the Supa Skips site was close to Lancaster City Centre, situated on an industrial site with residential properties nearby which had presented challenges during the incident. The building had formerly been a power station with additional buildings subsequently erected on the land surrounding the main building.
The Environmental Agency (EA) had brought the building to the attention of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) in February 2022 and shared information about the amount of waste being stored. A licence had been granted to store 500 tonnes of waste on the site, however, it was estimated that there were thousands of tonnes. Waste continued to be stored at the site even after EA prohibition and eventually, the site went into Liquidation. The Service was concerned over the impact a fire would have on the community and critical infrastructure, which was raised with partner agencies so that a multi-agency plan could be formulated.
Partner agencies involved in pre-planning for a potential incident were Lancashire Constabulary, EA, United Utilities (UU), Lancaster City Council, and Lancashire County Council. LFRS led on the formulation of a tactical plan with input from all agencies and hosted a table-top exercise in October 2022. The table-top exercise facilitated discussion and planning around: The proposed hose route cutting off access to the city; Large volumes of run-off water that could enter combined drains which could overwhelm the pumping station and / or flood the water treatment works; The run-off water that entered the surface water drain could pollute the River Lune; the potential smoke plume could carry asbestos over the city and deposit on the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and the Lancaster Railway Station; Local residents, businesses, care home and schools could be impacted for several days.
Planning documents were shared on Resilience Direct so there was immediate access to partners and an Impact Statement was completed by LFRS. The Impact Statement included environmental impacts, impacts to the community, impacts on businesses, difficulties to fight a fire, and the cost to LFRS.
LFRS Actions included: -
- Agreed multi-agency plans for the occurrence of an incident.
- Increased pre-determined attendance.
- Sharing plans internally.
- Further planning which took place with UU and the EA in how best to deal with fire water run-off.
- LFRS being part of regular multi-agency meetings to monitor the risk.
- A letter of concern which had been sent to the Environment Agency and the Chief Executive of Lancaster City Council.
In September and October 2023, a number of fires occurred at the abandoned A1 Supa Skips site and a Major Incident was declared due to the risk. A Tactical Coordinating Group and Strategic Coordinating Group was assembled with multi agency representation.
On Sunday 3 December 2023, a fire started at the site and the first call to report the incident was received at 5.30am. Consequently, there was a quick ‘Make Up’ of Resources which comprised of 10 fire engines, 2 Aerial Ladder Platforms (ALPs), a High Volume Pump (HVP), the Hazardous Materials and Environmental Protection Unit (HMU), the Command Unit, and a Stinger. The drone unit also attended as part of the initial response to assist with situational awareness and was used on numerous occasions throughout the incident. Partner agencies were also in attendance at the incident. North West Fire Control (NWFC) ensured cover across the county by strategically moving fire engines and replacing resources.
The Service faced challenges with the significant quantity of compacted commercial waste and the small footprint of the site which made the standard firefighting tactics virtually impossible. The building had also been neglected for a number of years and the fire compromised the structure further which made accessing the fire very challenging. Additional challenges included waters supplies for the large quantity of water requires, disposal of the polluted water run off, and the smoke plume.
Solutions to the challenges included:
- The employment of demolition contractors to enable access by removing ancillary buildings, trees, and a sheet asbestos concrete wall. They also removed waste from the site for which Lancaster City Council paid nearly £1.5m (central government had reimbursed a significant six figure sum), and the EA contributed £65k.
- Regular assessment by a structural engineer aided the LFRS drone.
- The Long deployment of the High Volume Pump to supply water to the incident ground from the River Lune.
- A Waste Fire Tactical Advisor was requested through National Resilience.
- The application of a weak foam solution as a surfactant.
- Close working with the EA and UU to minimise pollution.
- The deployment of additional air monitoring equipment by Lancaster City Council in the vicinity around the site.
Drone footage at the site was useful for firefighting tactics as hotspots could be detected and the ALP directed to where water was needed. Another objective was to stop the fire spreading to other buildings.
Members were informed that large quantities of waste was removed from inside the building to allow firefighters to target pockets of fire. In March 2024, residual heat was still present within the building.
Over 50 calls to 999 were taken on the morning of 3 December 2023 and in the response phase, LFRS had a 24/7 attendance at the site until 22 December 2023 (20 days). The incident remained in the response phase, including regular inspection, until 5 April 2024 (125 days), and flare ups were dealt with throughout that time. All Wholetime fire engines in Lancashire attended the incident at some point with 52 out of Lancashire’s 58 fire engines having attended.
Approximately 10,000 tonnes of waste was removed during the incident leaving approximately 1,700 tonnes on site. The remainder of the waste had been redistributed with fire breaks and the site had been secured by palisade fencing. The EA were preparing a prosecution case.
The Corporate Communications Team led on the communication throughout the incident and were praised for the regular updates. The structures for partnership working had already been in place and were positive, and the incident pre-planning had proved to be very beneficial.
Councillor Hugo noted there was one learning point and three positive points and asked GM McCreesh if there was anything that could have been done differently, to which GM McCreesh responded by saying it would have been better to have had improved conditions on site and with there being such a big risk it was frustrating, but this was reliant on other agencies. GM McCreesh added that she felt happy that the Service did a good job given the scale of what was involved.
County Councillor Mein offered congratulations and added that she understood frustrations were high given the premises had a licence for 500 tonnes of commercial waste and there was a considerably larger amount of waste on site and enquired if pressure could be placed on other agencies for regular checks to be undertaken. County Councillor Clarke added that he felt the Environment Agency should be monitoring situations such as these more closely.
County Councillor Singleton added that those responsible for enforcing stop orders should increase activity in the area.
County Councillor Hennessy echoed Councillor Singleton’s views and suggested that cross party support for a motion should be considered for the future. County Councillor Hennessy then asked if anybody had been injured on site, whether by smoke inhalation or by other means, to which GM McCreesh confirmed there were occupational health assessments but that there were no injuries.
The Chief Fire Officer responded by stating that in the broader context, environmental crime caused challenges for all FRSs nationally, such as those seen with the recent example in Hyndburn and he and other leaders applied pressure nationally for other agencies to improve policing of the issue and protections.
The Chair thanked GM Kirsty McCreesh for her presentation and also praised the excellent work and dedication of the firefighters involved in the incident. Members also expressed their gratitude.