At the start of twenty fourteen, the world witnessed one of the worst examples of what is commonly known as tyre fires. As the term suggests tyre fire is the uncontrolled burning of old tyres. Tyres being made of rubber contain numerous chemicals and substances which give off toxic fumes when burnt. A tyre fire is also a problem to extinguish and contain which makes such events all the more dangerous and polluting. Sometimes tyre fires are accidental, indiscriminate dumping of waste in landfills, combined with certain environmental and human factors have been known to cause extensive fires, engulfing entire landfills at times.
In January of twenty fourteen, a massive tyre fire broke out at a recycling facility in New Yorkshire, UK. The fire set ablaze a massive amount of tyres – it was estimated that an excess of fifteen thousand tonnes of tyres were burning that day. The plume of toxic smoke was so big that it was clearly seen on images provided by satellites orbiting around Earth – yes, that’s right, a UK tyre fire that could be seen from space.
If your business generates a lot of tyre waste on a regular basis (which is the case with many companies engaged in the respective industries), it is highly advisable to dispose of such hazardous waste as soon as possible using specialised rubbish removal services for commercial purposes. By doing this you ensure extra safety for your employees and commercial premises. Furthermore, by using a specialised junk removal service for commercial needs, you ensure rubbish ends up where it should, and that all recyclable waste is processed at the proper facilities.
It took a combined effort of city firemen and recycling plant operators to contain the New Yorkshire tyre fire in twenty fourteen. In the space of one hour, local fire department had to dispatch a total of fifteen high-capacity fire engines. Initially, firemen thought there were only about one thousand tonnes of rubber burning, but by next day it was estimated that at least fifteen thousand tonnes of rubber were on fire. A number of firefighting techniques were used in the course of taming the blaze. At one stage firemen brought in a device known as a High Volume Pump, and even applied a water curtain method to cool and restrain the fire.
The blaze took about three days to contain, with total extinguishing taking even longer. The high volume pump had nearly drained a nearby pond which provided the water for the high powered piece of equipment. Firemen had to maintain a total of five water curtains for nearly two days in order to prevent the fire from spreading further and incinerating the rest of the site.
Additional firefighting resources remained at the tyre-fire site for days to come as small blazes were breaking out in different spots at the recycling yard and had to be extinguished immediately. Local fire department brought in environmental protection groups in order to assess and limit the ecological damage caused by the blaze. At its highest point, it was estimated the plume of smoke towered at six thousand feet in the air.