Hednesford scrap fire: Residents told to shut windows as plumes of smoke seen for miles
A large scrapyard fire in Hednesford has been brought under control.
Staffordshire Fire control took more than 50 calls about the blaze in East Cannock Road, where large amounts of scrap metal were alight.
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The fire is believed to have started at Chase Car Spares.
Staffordshire Police say A460 East Cannock Road and Old Hednesford Rd Hawks Green area were closed because of the fire, and asked people to avoid the area.
Around 100 tonnes of scrap metal, mainly cars were involved in the blaze.
Crews were called to Chase Scrap Cars at around 7pm and an investigation will now be carried out into the cause.
Around 20 firefighters were involved as they managed to bring it under control within an hour-and-a-half.
The road blocks were removed at around 9.15pm as the operation was scaled back, but firefighters were expected to remain at the scene overnight.
A controlled burn was being allowed to allow the smoke to clear.
Neighbouring businesses such as KFC and Hawks Green MOT Centre were evacuated when the fire started.
Alan Snell, station manager at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the metal was contained to one area.
He said: "We have changed our tactical plan a little bit and we are allowing the fire to burn so the smoke is more buoyant and rises into the atmosphere in an attempt to clear it.
"It is under control and I would anticipate as we start to loose the daylight we will probably scale back our resources.
"We will wait until light again tomorrow when we will finally bring the incident to a close.
"Due to the nature of the things that were burning there was a considerable amount of smoke which was visible from a considerable distance away."
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