The Baldovie energy from waste plant in Dundee will be closed for several weeks following a serious fire that caused the conveyor to collapse.
The alarm was raised by the facility’s staff who noticed the flames on the CCTV system.
Tayside fire and rescue sent five appliances, a mobile command unit and an aerial platform to the blaze, in which over 30 fire-fighters worked to stop the fire.
The crews remained on site for several hours checking for fire spreads, and dealing with small pockets of fire.
Dundee Energy Recycling Ltd (DERL) managing director Alan Jones said: “We cannot praise Tayside fire and rescue enough for the professional and effective way they have worked in conjunction with our own teams to bring this incident swiftly under control.
“Having launched an investigation, our priority now, is to safely remove the 350 tonnes of waste from the fuel store where the fire started. This will allow us to assess the full extent of the damage then begin repairs as quickly as possible.”
The plant which burns a large amount of the city’s waste and feeds the resultant energy into the national grid has been hit by several fires in recent years.
Last June a blaze broke out in the transfer station, which handles refuse going into the centre.
In August 2010, an oil leak in the hydraulic systems caused fire fighters to return to the plant again.
