"Know your load", says recycling site after blaze in Swinton

Fire crews were called to JBM Recycling in Swinton on Tuesday morning after the blaze broke out, sending a large plume of smoke into the sky.

Ian Oxborough, JBM's recycling operations manager, told the Advertiser there had been no casualties – but warned that next time they may not be so lucky.

He said: "After reviewing our CCTV footage (which was shared with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue), we suspect that our material handler pierced a pressurised canister containing a flammable substance.

“This created a spark which resulted in a small fire, the fire quickly spread throughout our mixed metals.

"A staff member instantly called the fire service while our machine operator reacted quickly to try and isolate the fire by removing the surrounding material.

Unfortunately, the fire continued to spread and grow. Within minutes, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue were on-site and were able to contain the fire.”

Mr Oxborough said people should know what they dump, as there is a risk from recycling some materials without care.

He added: “As a fully licensed recycling facility, we take every precaution to check that the recycled material doesn’t have flammable or pressurised containers.

“When our customers tip up to 20 tons of material at a time, it can be challenging to identify any hazardous materials. Therefore, we want to share with people the importance of knowing their load.

“We provide a metal recycling service to the public, tradespeople and local businesses and want to prevent this from happening again.

“It could have been a different story if it wasn’t for our trained staff member's fast response and how quickly South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue were on-site.

“We want to thank our staff members who stayed calm and reacted immediately.

"We would like to thank South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue who were fantastic, their initial response and how quickly they contained the fire, ensured everybody's safety – thankfully, no one was injured or hurt.

“As a result of our employees’ determination to work throughout the night and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue's rapid response, we were able to reopen today.”