Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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Fire at SCA's paper mill in North Wales

Seven crews and three specialist units tackled a fire at SCA Hygiene Products' Oakenholt Paper Mill in Flintshire following a call at 20:48hrs on Sunday July 24. The fire was under conrol by 02:12hrs the following day.

Crews from Flint, Deeside, Buckley, Holywell, Mold and Chester, the Aerial Ladder Platform from Wrexham, the Incident Command Unit from Rhyl and the Incident Support Unit from Mold were all in attendance attacking the fire affecting the roof of the building, which is constructed of insulated panel and block.

"Sprinklers were fitted in the building, but due to the internal height of the structure they did not fully extinguish the fire," explained Glyn Jones from North Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

"Firefighters used main jets, hose reels and in excess of 50 sets of breathing apparatus to extinguish the high level fires."

According to The Daily Post, the factory has been damaged by a number of fires in recent years, which led to North Wales Fire Service taking measures to help reduce its risks in 2006. Colin Popplewell, site manager, told the Post reporter that there had not been any fires at the plant for a few months before Sunday's incident.

"The factory is open and we are just clearing up around the work, he explained. "The fire was in the roof space in the paper machine room.

"We are in the process of doing some repairs and cleaning around the building, which is mainly smoke damaged. We have no idea at this stage how much it is going to cost."

28th July 2011