Fire on Belfast harbour estate could last ‘number of days’

A fire at a scrap metal recycling business at Belfast harbour could last a "number of days", according to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire broke out at the premises on East Twin Road on the harbour estate on Tuesday afternoon, sending large plumes of smoke billowing over parts of Belfast.

The service’s group commander Paul Rogers told the BBC on Wednesday the fire involved “approximately 10,000 tonnes of metal and waste product, so we’re looking at a number of days before we can extinguish this fire.

“It’s still as bad today, I would say, as it was yesterday, it’s approximately 80 to 100 metres long and about 40 metres wide, and at the minute we’re working round the periphery to try and get actually into the most intense part of the fire itself.”

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More than 50 firefighters, six fire appliances and additional specialist equipment, including a specialist command unit, aerial high reach appliances and high volume pumps have been deployed to fight the blaze, as well as two fire tugs.

The nature of the fire has made it particularly challenging to fight, as the scrap metal retains heat and requires a lot of water to extinguish.

Assistant Chief Fire and Rescue Officer Aidan Jennings said firefighters had "prevented fire spread to on-site buildings, equipment and to a neighbouring site" and appealed to nearby residents to keep their windows closed.

“This will be protracted incident and it is expected that firefighting operations will be ongoing over the next few days,” he said.