The Environment Agency has said that a wood recycling facility had too much wood on its site as firefighters struggled to put out a fire at the site.
Wood Recycling Services in Potters Crouch, Hertfordshire had its environment permit suspended in September after getting an enforcement notice in July for storing piles of waste wood too high.
Firefighters have been attempting to put out the fire for a week and expect it may take another week to put out.
Environment Agency spokeswoman Victoria Owen said: “The Environment Agency suspended Wood Recycling Services from taking in any more waste to the site so that it could only remove waste.
“The fire service will look into how it started. The Environment Agency will look at the breaches of the permit but eventually it will become one investigation to decide whether the breaches were related to the fire.
“If so, there are various options open to us including prosecution or revocation of the permit. That’s the ultimate price that could be paid, but I am not saying this will happen. It will be down to the investigation.”
Hertfordshire County Council had also issued a notice to the company for a breach of its planning conditions in August giving the company until the end of the month to reduce the height of the pile of wood.
