Day 183 - West Midlands Police - Smethwick Fire Air Support

At around 11pm on the night of 30 June 2013, a

sky lantern A sky lantern (), also known as Kǒngmíng lantern (), or Chinese lantern, is a small hot air balloon made of paper, with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended. In Asia and elsewhere around the world, sky lanterns have bee ...

landed on a Jayplas plastics and

paper recycling The recycling of paper is the process by which waste paper is turned into new paper products. It has a number of important benefits: It saves waste paper from occupying homes of people and producing methane as it breaks down. Because paper fi ...

plant on Dartmouth Road, near to the

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

football ground, at

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, England, igniting the material stored there. The resulting fire was the largest ever dealt with by the

West Midlands Fire Service West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) is the fire and rescue service for the metropolitan county of West Midlands, England. The service is the second largest in England, after London Fire Brigade. The service has 38 fire stations, with a blended ...

(WMFS), who deployed over 200

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s and nearly 40 appliances, including seven appliances borrowed from

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service responsible for fire protection, prevention, intervention and emergency rescue in the county of Staffordshire and unitary authority of Stoke-on-Trent. The county ha ...

and three from

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service The Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service covering Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the West Midlands region of England. The service covers an area of , and a population of around 7 ...

. Three firefighters were taken to hospital. The column of smoke cloud could be seen as far away as

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

. 10 miles away in Yardley, the skies were filled with grey ash in the morning rush hour. WMFS received over 400 emergency phone calls. The

Canal and River Trust The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, th ...

and the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

monitored nearby waterways for toxic residues in the run-off water. Birmingham Airport monitored the smoke in case it affected arriving or departing flights. Delays were caused on the adjacent

M5 Motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

and the region's road network. WMFS broadcast live from the site over the Internet, via Bambuser. Initial estimates put the cost of the damage caused at £6 million. On the afternoon of the 1 July, the WMFS called for "an urgent review of the legislation regarding the use of airborne ‘fire’ lanterns", calling on the public and event organisers to stop using them and questioning whether event licences should be issued for events where they were to be used.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smethwick fire Smethwick 2013 disasters in the United Kingdom 2013 in England 2010s fires in the United Kingdom 2013 fires in Europe 2010s in the West Midlands (county) Building and structure fires in England Disasters in the West Midlands (county) June 2013 events in the United Kingdom

See also

References

External links