A year ago today, a blaze believed to have been sparked by just one battery left a state-of-the-art Aberdeen recycling centre a fire-ravaged wreck.
The fire first broke out at the Altens East Recycling and Recovery centre on July 8 last year, but firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control that night.
However, it took hold again shortly after midnight, sparking a massive emergency response.
It eventually took 118 hours to put out with crews finally leaving the scene nearly five days later.
No one was hurt in the blaze, but everything inside the building was completely destroyed.
How did the fire at Altens start?
The final collection truck dropped off the last load ready to be sorted the following week and most staff clocked out at 2pm on Friday ready for the weekend.
CCTV footage from inside the £27 million building shows a whisper of smoke coming from the stockpile of refuse not long after the shutters closed for the weekend.
The automatic fire alarm was triggered and six fire engines, along with specialist vehicles, were mobilised to the scene.
A stop message was sent back to base just after 10pm, but some firefighters remained on the scene to make sure the area was safe.
The fire took hold again shortly after midnight and quickly grew out of control.
Firefighters and specialist vehicles from across the north-east – including from as far as Montrose, Peterhead and Dundee – joined the efforts.
In the months since an investigation ruled the fire as accidental with the cause being “undetermined”.
Suez bosses believe that while it cannot be proved, it was “highly probable” the fire was caused by an incorrectly disposed of lithium battery.
The rechargeable battery – often found in electric toothbrushes, mobiles and e-cigarrettes – can overheat and lead to a fire that can then spread to other combustible materials.
What complications did firefighters face at Altens?
The building was used for storing household recycled waste and had around 115 different types of machinery for sorting the waste into bales ready to be recycled.
It is thought there was around 1,000 tonnes of recyclables in the Altens recycling centre at the time of the fire, making hotspots difficult to find and control.
Steel beams supporting the structure were melted from the sheer heat coming from the flames and smouldering refuse, bursting the concrete walls.
Log books from the incident, obtained by the Press & Journal through a freedom of information request, details the struggles faced by fire crews who were working round-the-clock to gain control.
At around 4.30am on Saturday, firefighters recorded signs of collapse and thought around 80% of the building was involved in the fire.
Large plumes of smoke billowed from the building from waste that was unknown, and there were concerns about plastic fumes.
The “smoke cloud” also covered much of the railway line between Aberdeen and Stonehaven.
Residents in the nearby Cove even lost their water supply for part of the day due to the huge volumes being used to tackle the fire.
Fire crews had to change tact and began pumping water from the harbour to continue their efforts.
Area commander Chay Ewing said:Â “At the height of the incident, operations control mobilised nine fire appliances, plus a number of specialist resources, meaning more than forty firefighters were in attendance to extinguish the fire.
“It was a highly challenging incident and the fire had taken hold of a large area of mixed waste. The smoke impacted on local residents who were very patient as crews remained on the scene for a number of days to ensure the area was made safe.”
Suez worked with fire crews at Altens centre
Suez staff joined attempts to haul refuse out of the Altens recycling centre fire into the open air using mechanical diggers so the smouldering materials could be dampened down.
After a final fire inspection at 3pm on Thursday, July 14 last year, crews handed what was left of the building back to Suez.
Colin Forshaw, production operations manager at Suez, praised fire crews for their tireless work and explained the automatic sprinkler systems worked correctly – helping the staff still in the plant evacuate on time.
He said: “Our guys raised the alarm and the fire service attended very quickly, thanks to their efforts we were able to make sure it was safe and evacuate on time.
“But, unfortunately, the fire spread out of control and as a consequence, we’ve had to demolish the facility.
“Between us working under their guidance we were able to assist by removing fiery material from the site so that it could be doused with water.
“We believe the incident was highly probably caused by a lithium battery which has been incorrectly disposed of in the material.
“Batteries, compressed canisters, vapes, these sorts of items if they are put into the wrong bin or wrong container, can spontaneously combust, and can start fires.”
