Achi news desk-
“I could see,” he said, “the flames and plumes of smoke from my daughter’s room. The noise woke me up, around midnight and I moved my daughter into our bedroom away from the window as a precaution. I kept thinking about that terrible Beirut ammonium nitrate explosion.”
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was this morning still urging residents to stay at home, two days after a fire engulfed a battery recycling center in Kilwinning.
At 6.45am on Wednesday, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service urged residents in the surrounding area to stay at home with windows and doors closed following the fire at the Fenix battery recycling centre.
Three engines, he said, and one height vehicle remained at the scene as crews worked to extinguish the fire. No injuries were reported.
Around 40 firefighters attended the scene after the alarm was raised shortly after 10pm on Monday, April 8 to reports of a fire on Byrehill Place, Kilwinning.
Area Commander Jim Quinn said: “We are continuing to work with the recycling center and partner agencies to minimize disruption to the local community and will continue to provide updates.
“While smoke remains visible, we would ask residents to stay at home, and keep windows and doors closed as a precaution.
“If traveling through smoke, motorists should keep windows closed, turn off the air conditioning and keep their air vents closed.”
Fenix describes itself on its website as “the UK’s first multi-chemistry battery recycling operation, providing the infrastructure, resources and R&D needs to offer a complete recycling solution for all types of batteries.
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The cause of the Fenix fire is not yet known, but the Kilwinning site is not the only recycling center engulfed in flames. For example, there have been two fires at the LiBatt lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Wolverhampton, which recycles lithium batteries of all sizes from mobile phones to electric vehicles.
In Germany the production hall of the SimpLi Return LiB recycling facility in Offenbach, has burned three times, the most recent fire occurred in August 2023 and explosions followed.
In February this year, a fire broke out in a warehouse, north of Toulouse, in France, containing 900 metric tonnes of lithium batteries owned by the SNAM recycling group. It took two days to put it out.
Lithium-ion battery fires produce intense heat and considerable gas and smoke, some of which can be toxic.
Fenix Battery Recycling was contacted for comment but did not respond.
On Tuesday Damian Lambkin of Fenix Battery Recycling told BBC Scotland News that the factory’s response team had contacted the emergency services, and thanked them for the “prompt and professional handling of the incident”.
He said: “While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, we are fully co-operating with the authorities by providing all necessary information and assistance and Fenix Battery Recycling will continue to liaise closely with the services emergency, regulatory bodies, and local authorities. throughout the ongoing event.”
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is working with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and Public Health Scotland to monitor the situation as a precaution.
The multi-agency response includes Police Scotland, SFRS, SEPA, Public Health, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, and North Ayrshire Council.
Investigations into the fire are ongoing.
