Firefighters have put out a blaze that had been burning at an abandoned recycling centre in Berkshire for almost seven months.
When the compost fire broke out at the Good2Grow site in November 2012, fire crews had hoped that it would extinguish itself naturally after a few weeks. More than six months later, the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service was forced to put the fire out itself. That operation began on 5 June. Firefighters were forced to move the waste a tonne at a time to extinguish it, because pouring water directly on to the piles would have produced a significant amount of smoke.
The organic matter was moved, spread out, and saturated with water bit by bit over 13 working days — to reduce disruption, the fire service chose not to work on the fire during evenings and weekends. Other techniques discussed included burying the compost in soil and excavating a massive water pit to hold the compost. The Environment Agency, the fire service, the West Berkshire Council, and Grundon Waste Management (the landowner) agreed that spreading and saturating the waste would be the best way.
Nicole Targett, a spokeswoman for the fire service, said in a press release issued before the operation began:
The volume of the waste material has now reduced to the point where, with help from Grundon, it will be possible to access any remaining material that is still burning. The techniques we will be using are designed to suppress production of smoke and ash as far as possible but with an operation of this size, significant amounts will still be released. However, once the work is finished, the fire will be extinguished completely.
The BBC reported that Grundon had leased the land to a firm called Good2Grow, which had ceased trading before the fire broke out. Grundon has since been working with the Environment Agency to deal with the smouldering blaze, which the West Berkshire Council had declared a public nuisance. Firefighter Paul Maynard praised the service’s work. He told the BBC that bringing the fire to an end had been “a pretty unpleasant job” for all involved.
Could this be a record for a fire burning? Have you ever heard of a longer-lasting blaze? Do let us know in the comments below.
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@Robert Brown – my question is if they know how much flammable materials they have, why they weren’t ready for a fire. Why didn’t they have mechanisms to stop the fire spreading? When the technology is this advance they could easily have plans and ways of minimizing the risk.
The Heyope Tyre fire in Wales was longer.
Wow, at least FIFTEEN years! That’s incredible. Any more?
The Centralia Mine fire in Pennsylvania has been burning (and continues to burn) since 1962
I think the main question is how did the fire start? Beyond that, this type of fire is difficult to control with the amount of material we’re talking about
I laughed at that picture but there is no shortage of fires that have been burning much longer than 7 months. There is one in Russia that has been burning since 1971 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door_to_Hell or the oldest one that I know of in New South Wales Australia that scientists think has been burning for 6,000 years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingen,_New_South_Wales
This door to hell thing is incredible, thanks for sharing!
I am from a mining state and we are not strangers to coal fires but to have burned for an estimated 6,000 years thats insane to think about. Especially when you put it into a sense of the waited fossil fuels it represents. The door to hell thing is crazy to think about too, wow that is intense.
@Mike Clauss
It is incredible for a fire to be burning for 6000years from the link you posted. I am researching on this and thanks anyway.
@ safeNsane
Thanks for the links. I knew I had heard of fires lasting longer than seven months, but these are some very interesting examples.
@ Jerry Hill
Ahhhh…Centralia, Pennsylvania…the inspiration for Silent Hill. I bet that is a creepy place to visit!
“The Heyope Tyre fire in Wales was longer.”
@f285- you mean to say there was a longer fire. Do you know what triggered that fire and how did they manage to bring it down, and especially what took it so long.
@Jerry- Is this true, how could a fire be burning for so long? I wonder what’s keeping the flames, any highly flammable materials underground.
@Robert Brown – Yes the question is how did the initial fire start? And what keeping it alive?
@James Pike – Imaging the amount of toxic harmful gases that is sent to the atmosphere throughout those 25 years.
@Mike Clauss – Burning for 6000 years, what’s keeping it burning is it the winds? I wonder what triggered that fire? Are we still attempting to put the fire down?
@Jonathan Lipscomb – Yes it’s amazing how it could burn for 6000 years, imaging the amount of energy if could gene rage if all the raw resources are utilized without letting them burn.
@STACEY ESTEY – I have heard of fires lasting 3 years but not ones lasting 6000 years. I mean it’s amazing how it could happen.
Fire for 6000 years is more of a movie kind of name but I think its hard to believe.
With media today so fast how this incident never reported previously. I am hearing it here and knows that most of the people did not even know that. The energy required to keep it burning is still a mystery.
No problem. The door to hell is one of those things you hear about and just shake your head because you can walk yourself through their thought process but then you realize how dumb that probably was. A hole big enough to swallow a drilling rig alone is a scary story but then deciding to light up the pocket of gas below seems like something from a horror movie.
@ Shehan
Yes that is pretty amazing. You could have quite a weenie roast with a fire like that, and make some s’mores too! 😉
It is hard to believe that there is fire is burning for over 6000years.
Think of it as a giant charcoal grill, the coal is mostly underground but a vein that is exposed is hit by lightning or caught in a wild fire. After that initial fire the coal underground will smolder apparently for 6000+ years. If you google coal seam fire you can see some pretty amazing pictures of coal deposits burning. This one for example is from another fire mentioned in the comments. The Centralia fire hasn’t been burning nearly as long but it’s an impressive sight.
yes, but Nature is always win… it only show us we could not control everything… up to our likings…. reality….
Is this real? I am doing my research but I can not have any solid evidence about this burning fires. Can anyone help?
gbrown I have done enough but could not get any solid evidence about all this. I have heard few fires burning for may be few years at a most but for 6000 years is a real scary though as once fire is broken out you cannot stop its flow.
Thanks Sheh for help anyway. My research on this burning fire is intensifying with people sending me more information. I will update you all after verifying its sources
Coal seam fires are very real and not all that uncommon. The longest burning fires out there tend to be natural resource related since they have the most fuel. Even with things like recycling centers humans just can’t match nature for the ability to stack up fuel sources.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_seam_fire
Thanks for the update and I am still researching on this and thanks for the link too, I think it is very helpful to know that there are some fire burning which are not over 6000years
Thanks for all your comments. Expect a follow-up article very soon on some of the longest running fires!