People in Coventry and Warwickshire woke up this morning to find ash particles in their cars, bins, barbecues and on the street after a recycling plant caught fire last night (June 12). A large fire ravaged the Smurfit Kappa packaging plant in Nechells, Birmingham at around 7.30pm.
Coventry and Nuneaton firefighters were sent to the fire which has now been declared a “major incident”. Some 110 firefighters and 20 firefighters were called to the scene to help put out the blaze.
And the effects of the fire have been seen throughout the West Midlands today as the battle continues to resolve the situation. Hundreds of people have said they saw ash everywhere this morning.
READ MORE: Coventry and Nuneaton teams toured as a large fire dodged at the Nechells recycling plant
James Pattison, who lives in Tile Hill, said the ashes were in the cars on his road and were scattered by vehicles parked in the CBS Arena. He told CoventryLive: “I was on my way to work and I assumed it was from a neighbor who was making a fire or a barbecue in the evening.
“But when I walked into the parking lot, I noticed it exploding as cars passed over the parking lot. He noticed the cars that were parked overnight. Very weird!”
Ash photographed on a barbecue in Coventry this morning
CoventryLive reported the fire this morning. Hayley O’Rourke commented on Facebook, “My car was covered in ash this morning in Coventry. I wondered where it all came from.” Penny Carter added, “That explains why our car is covered in ash.”
A man living in the Aldermans Green Road area said: “I left home this morning to take my wife to work and the children to school and was confused about why my car was covered in what looked like salt and pepper.
“It was weird. I saw my neighbor doing the same thing and we were very confused.
“Then I saw on Facebook that there had been a fire in Birmingham, but I couldn’t believe the ashes could travel that far. But there was no other explanation, so that must have been it.”
The fire has been raging all night after thousands of tons of cardboard and paper were burned. A spokesman for the Nuneaton Fire Department said: “We have been covering the West Midlands since the fire in Smurfit Kappa.
“There have been 20 bombs on fire, so we’ve been covering part of the West Midlands.” The West Midlands Fire Department said the crews had made “excellent progress” overnight, but are expected to be at the scene for at least the next 48 hours.
Fortunately, no casualties were reported. Police, an ambulance, the Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water and site staff have been involved in the ongoing operation.
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