One of the biggest fires seen in Cumbria for years has been brought under control within hours thanks to a major effort from firefighters all around the county.
At 02:31 this morning Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service received an emergency call reporting a 'rubbish fire' at FC Tyre Collection Services at Crosby-on-Eden near Carlisle. When a Carlisle crew arrived at the scene it was clear that it was a major blaze and crews from Carlisle, Brampton, Longtown, Wigton, Penrith, Aspatria, Lazonby and Kendal were scrambled to attend the incident. A fire fighting crew from Carlisle Airport also helped in the effort.
At the height of the fire, which involved a large quantity of old tyres, there were 70 firefighters, eight tenders, an aerial ladder platform from Carlisle, a water bowser from Penrith and a high volume pump from Kendal all in attendance. The fire was brought under control at 7am this morning and is now fully contained but three fire tenders, the aerial ladder and high volume pump remain at the scene as the fire is expected to continue to burn for many hours, possibly days.
The efforts to contain the fire were made even more challenging by the lack of available water supplies nearby. The high volume pump was used to transfer water to the scene from the River Eden.
Dominic Harrison, Cumbria's Chief Fire Officer, said:
"This was an extremely challenging incident and it's a testimony to the hard work and ingenuity of all our firefighters that we contained the fire as quickly as we did. Our swift action prevented the fire from spreading to any nearby buildings. We worked closely with our colleagues in the police, Environment Agency and Health Protection Agency to ensure the safety of the public was paramount throughout the whole operation. The cause of the incident is not yet known and we will be investigating the incident thoroughly in due course."
ENDS
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