Firefighters spent more than four hours battling a fire at a sewage works in Ipswich last night and in the early hours of this morning.
Suffolk Fire and Rescue was called at 10.52pm yesterday to reports of green waste on fire at the Anglian Water recycling centre sewage works in Raeburn Road, Ipswich.
Crews battled the flames through the night, reporting that the flames had been put out shortly after 3.30am this morning.
A Suffolk Fire and Rescue spokesman said a large amount of processed and unprocessed compost was “well-alight” and had initially been reported as an electrical power box and compost fire.
At the height of the flames there were four crews and a water bowser on site, although relief teams took over around 3am.
A fire service spokeswoman said that the flames were all outside and were not inside any building.
Nobody was reported injured.
The spokeswoman added that one crew remained at the scene to continue damping down work.
It is not yet clear how the fire started, although an investigation is likely to take place in due course.
Phil Geeson, incident station commander said: “We would like to thank staff at Cliff Quay for their support overnight – they have helped move some of the unaffected items away and stopped it being worse than it could have been.
“Not all of the products were involved and we were able to move the unaffected product and bring it to a quicker resolution.”
He added that there was no indication that the flames had been started deliberately.
He said: “The fire had affected an electrical junction box so that presented a hindrance.”
He added: “With the support of port management we isolated the power supply.
“We would like to reassure the public that there was no significant danger.”
A spokeswoman from Anglian Water confirmed the fire took place at its plant, and added: “Last night Suffolk Fire crews were alerted to a fire at Anglian Water’s Cliff Quay water recycling.
“The fire is contained to the composting area of the site and the fire crews remain on site.
“We’ll be working closely with them to establish the cause of the fire.”
The spokeswoman apologised for the smoke in the area.
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