Photographs taken by firefighters whilst they battled a major blaze at a scrapyard in Swindon show the scale of the fire they were faced with.
Eleven fire crews from Wiltshire and Gloucestershire were called to the incident at EMR in Gipsy Lane shortly after 2am this morning.
Firefighters were met by ‘flames measuring more than 60 feet in height’, coupled with ‘intense heat from the pile of scrap metal which had caught alight’.
Crews from Swindon (two), Stratton (two), Westlea and Stroud, as well as a water carrier from Royal Wootton Bassett and the Aeriel Ladder Platform from Swindon, attended. Firefighters had the fire surrounded by 3.15am and made good progress using foam jets.
Firefighting action was ceased due to the bunded area becoming overwhelmed by water runoff. Firefighters worked with the onsite management team to divert the water to a secondary area and resumed fighting the fire until the blaze was confirmed extinguished at 6.30am.
