Firefighters battle scrap yard blaze in Red Lodge involving 100 vehicles

A total of 12 crews were called to Scrapco Metal Recycling in Green Lane, Red Lodge, just after 2am, to fight the fire which involved around 100 vehicles stacked on top of each other.

Preliminary investigations by Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service suggest the fire started accidently and there was no third party involvement.

Conrad Burgess, station commander for Suffolk Fire and Rescue, who was one of the first on the scene, said “everyone pulled together” to tackle the blaze.

“The fire involved around 80-100 cars and they were all well alight when we arrived,” Mr Burgess said.

“The vehicles were stacked probably three high and there were flames on top of that. It was a large fire and I could see it as I was arriving.

“The fire was under control within the first three hours and then probably another three hours were spent checking hotspots and hidden fires. I’d really like to thank the owner for the use of his crane, which enabled us to take each car off the stack and put it in the yard so it could be treated as a separate car fire.

“Once we got into our rhythm, we were able to control the fire quite quickly. The guys worked very hard.

“I’d also like to thank residents of Green Lane because there was a bit of noise and they would have been woken up, but they were very understanding to the situation.

“It was one of those incidents where everyone pulled together.”

Mr Burgess added that preliminary investigations into the blaze suggest that the cause was accidental.

Terry Hunn, manager of Scrapco Metal Recycling, thanked the fire service for their efforts in tackling the blaze.

He said: “I got a phone call in the middle of the night, and if I get a call, it’s normally that someone’s broken into the yard or there’s been a fire. It’s never good.

“The fire service did a brilliant job to contain the fire and it was dealt with.”

A spokesman from Suffolk police said it had been made aware of the incident but did not need to attend.