Huge Tipton blaze destroys 1,000 tons of timber

A thousand tons of timber went up in flames at a Black Country rubbish depot leading to a nearby train line being closed for around five hours.

More than 60 firefighters were called to tackle the blaze after the huge pile of wood caught fire at Bloomfield Recycling in Tipton last night.

Flames could be seen up to 50ft above the building and thick plumes of smoke rose into the skyline at the height of the blaze.

Trains on the nearby Wolverhampton to Birmingham line had to be stopped due to fears water being used to tackle the flames would fall onto the 25,000 vault cables.

The fire ripped through the unit in Bloomfield Road just before 10pm. Trains were stopped around midnight but were running again by 4.30am.

On-site machinery was used to create a fire break so firefighters could control the blaze. The cause of the blaze is not yet known and fire teams are investigating. Crew commander Mark Harris, from Tipton fire station, said: "It was quite spectacular, you could see the flames from far away."

He said crews had to break into the site to deal with the blaze which took a couple of hours to get under control. Crews were expected to remain at the site for the rest of today damping down.

Shocked staff were alerted to the blaze and went to the scene last night.

Manager David Humphries said: "We don't know what has caused it at the moment. It was timber that had been processed for making bio fuel pellets. It was a shock when I found out there was a fire."

He added he was hopeful the recycling depot would be able to open as normal on Monday.