Lancaster fire in Lune Industrial Estate still ongoing over a month later

Firefighters are still being called to the former A1 SupaSkips site in Lancaster over a month after the fire began on 3rd December 2023.

On 15th January 2024, Lancashire Fire and Rescue reported that “pockets of deep-seated fire” are still being uncovered by waste removal teams working on the site

The site originally held 13,000 tonnes of commercial waste.

As the fires are being uncovered, the fire department is being called to extinguish the fires.

The large fire that originally caused the fire department to be called took several weeks to be extinguished due to the large quantity of waste at the site, as well as the presence of several outbuildings that were blocking access to the main site.

Lancaster City Council stated that fires could be ongoing for several months due to the quantity of waste at the building, which was “already in a poor state of repair” before the fire.

A 36 year old man was arrested on suspicion of arson on 6th December, however, he has since been released on bail. No more news of arrests or police proceedings has been released.

The cost of demolition contractors’ work to deal with the fire and make the site safe has been predicted to cost up to £900,000, according to the BBC.

Lancaster City Council originally allocated £262,000 to aid the fire department’s efforts. They then announced that up to £650,000 additional funding is being made from the council’s reserves for waste removal and demolition.

However, Councillor Phillip Black who leads Lancaster City Council has said this funding is being made in spite of the city council having no responsibility for the site, which is privately owned. He said: “Although the city council does not have any direct responsibility for this privately owned site we need a swift resolution for the sake of residents, businesses and to protect the environment.

“Rather than wait for a decision over who is responsible and on possible funding, the council is stepping up to the plate to get the job done now…

“However, that doesn’t mean that we are willing to bear the financial burden alone so we’ll continue to seek contributions from Government and other agencies involved as otherwise this will leave a huge dent in our already stretched finances.”

The full statement can be found here.

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