Firefighters tackle huge blaze at Birmingham recycling plant
An investigation is under way as firefighters continue to deal with a huge fire that broke out at a recycling plant in Birmingham.
Fire crews from across the West Midlands are tackling the fire as thousands of tons of cardboard and paper went up in smoke at the Smurfit Kappa site in Nechells.
More than 120 firefighters and 30 fire appliances were used after emergency services responded to calls around 7:30pm on Sunday evening.
An earlier update said:
Emergency services were first called to the site off Mount Street at about 7.40pm on Sunday.
More than 30 fire appliances were deployed to the scene and 8,000 litres of water a minute were being pumped from a nearby canal at one point, said fire chiefs.
In a statement, the brigade said: "On-site fire safety procedures helped us in our initial attack on the fire," adding investigators would start work on Monday to try to work out what started the blaze.
"Firefighters have faced challenging conditions at the site, including the amount of smoke created," the spokesman added.
People in the area are being urged to stay indoors and keep their windows closed, while crews work to extinguish the fire.
A statement from the fire service said: "At 19:40 on Sunday 12 June, we were called to an incident on Mount Street, Nechells, Birmingham. This incident involves a large amount of paper and cardboard bales on fire at a warehouse.
"We currently have more than 20 fire appliances in attendance - including two aerial hydraulic platforms, multiple fire engines, a high volume water pumping unit, and one of our drones. Crews from stations across the West Midlands are working extremely hard to tackle the blaze using main jets.
"We are working closely with Police and Ambulance colleagues, the Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water, and on-site staff, to bring the incident to a safe conclusion. There are no reports of any casualties. It's expected that crews will be in attendance throughout the night."
Dramatic drone footage, shot at night-time and later released by the brigade, showed the scale of the incident.
