Yard fire still being tackled (From Swindon Advertiser)

Yard fire still being tackled

7:00pm Friday 6th July 2012 in News By Emma Dunn

FIREFIGHTERS are expecting to continue battling a huge blaze near Royal Wootton Bassett for the next few days.

A plume of smoke was still rising from Swindon Metal Solutions Ltd, in Thornhill near Royal Wootton Bassett, today while fire crews continued their efforts to extinguish the blaze.

A fireman was taken to Great Western Hospital after attending the scene due to suspected heat exhaustion, but he has now returned home.

Station manager Dan Cooke said: “We have had a large fire involving scrap vehicles and flammable substances. The site has provided us with challenging conditions.

“The fire is ongoing and it will take a long time to resolve. The fire site is extremely hot and very well developed.

“We have been trying to access hot spots. We could be here for a number of days. Crews have worked extremely hard from the initial attendance to bring it under control.”

Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles and many Adver readers sent in their pictures, some of which are reproduced here.

The blaze, which is under control, has seen crews from Westlea, Swindon, Marlbor-ough, Cricklade, Calne, Devizes, Stratton and Malmesbury attending since 3pm on Thursday.

The fire investigation team has visited at the site and will investigate further when the site is safe.

Mr Cooke said: “This is a very challenging incident because of the scale and size of it and the hazards the firefighters face. However, we have received a lot of cooperation from the owners and our plans to resolve the incident are working as we would hope.”

Roads surrounding the site were still closed to the public today.

Dawn Twelftree, of Wootton Fields, lives just outside the boundary of the cordoned off roads.

“It smells like burning rubber. We spoke to someone who said he could see it from Broad Town Hill and he thought it was a tornado,” she said. “I wasn’t here when it started, but I heard it went up like an explosion.”