Crews battle chemical fire at Burscough plant

It took over 10 fire crews to take on a huge fire at a Burscough chemical plant last Tuesday with two people having to be airlifted to hospital.

When the blaze broke out at about 10am smoke could be seen from almost four miles away from the site at PHS Waste Management, in Tollgate Road.

The chemical incident was dealt with using Operation Merlin, a collaboration between police and the fire service in Lancashire for these kinds of instances.

A number of roads throughout the area had to be closed due to the fire as firefighters fought to extinguish the flames which had spread to the roof of the chemical waste management plant.

There were also reports of explosions at the plant due to the nature of the chemicals involved, so businesses in the area had to be evacuated.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue, said:

“The smoke has been analysed and it is of a low toxicity in terms of chemicals.

“The initial reports of explosions would have been aerosol cans exploding.”

Three people were injured in total after suffering burns from the fire and had to be taken to the Royal Preston Hospital for treatment.

It took several hours for fire crews to get the blaze under control and make the area safe.