About
200 tonnes of plastics went up in flames at the Polypipe warehouse on the
Skippingdale industrial estate, pouring thick black smoke into the
sky. FACTORY INFERNO
A suspected arson attack on a Scunthorpe plastics warehouse
has caused an estimated £500,000 worth of damage.
About
200 tonnes of plastics went up in flames at the Polypipe warehouse on the
Skippingdale industrial estate, pouring thick black smoke into the
sky.
Humberside Fire
Service was still involved in damping down during the following day. Det Insp Steve Robinson, of
Scunthorpe CID, said he did not know the exact cause of the blaze but was
treating it as suspicious.
He said they
were keen to trace two youths seen near the premises shortly before the fire.
Divisional Fire
Officer Richard Hannigan said when firefighters got to the blaze at about 8.10pm
the place was 'well alight'.
But there were
no people involved in the fire as the factory was unoccupied at the time.
Firefighters,
he said, were unable to fight the fire from within because the building was
collapsing and was unsafe to commit crews.
DO Hannigan
said the thick black smoke produced by the burning plastic did not pose any
threat to the public.
"The smoke
was blowing into the countryside. We had a weather forecast and that was where
we expected it to stay," he said.
Seven
appliances and 53 firefighters from Scunthorpe, Epworth, Crowle, Brigg and Hull
attended and laid about one mile of hose to power the four jets in use.
There was no evacuation from neighboring premises because they were empty but a cordon was thrown around the area by police officers. A fire service spokesman said the estate would be available for use today.
