Scrap metal firm CBC Metal Merchants and Recyclers in North Walsham near Norwich has suffered a fire in its yard.
The fire took place last Friday with cars and cookers among the items alight.
Firefighters left the metal to burn while hosing unaffected areas to keep them cool and prevent them from lighting.
Norfolk Fire Service watch manager Gary Miller praised the company for using machinery to separate the lit material from the main heap before the fire brigade arrived, as this restricted the spread of the blaze.
He said: “They had been moving steel around and it caused some sort of reaction within the scrap metal.
“For example, the ignition on a gas cooker could have been accidentally pressed. There is always going to be some sort of hazard with scrap metal, however careful you are.”
