West Midlands Fire Service said that at 7.40pm yesterday (12 June), it was called to the incident on the Mount Street area of Nechells.
The incident involves “a large amount of paper and cardboard bales on fire at a warehouse”, the fire service said, with around 8,000 tonnes of compressed cardboard on fire when firefighters arrived.
“At the height of the incident, we had more than 30 fire appliances in attendance – including two aerial hydraulic platforms, multiple fire engines, a high volume water pumping unit, and one of our drones.”
It said it was working closely with police and ambulance colleagues, the Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water, and on-site staff to bring the incident to a safe conclusion, and that there were no reports of any casualties.
In the latest update, posted at 7.55am this morning, eight fire engines and 50 personnel were still on site, continuing “to bring this large-scale incident to a safe conclusion”.
“The on-site fire safety procedures helped us in our initial attack on the fire. We have worked with on-site staff and enabled the company to continue some of its usual operations this morning.
“Our fire investigators will today be working to try to establish how the fire started.”
The notice said firefighters had faced “challenging conditions” at the site, including the amount of smoke created.
At one stage, the high volume water pumping unit was pumping and relaying 8,000 litres of water per minute from a nearby canal.
UPDATE: Eight fire engines and 50 personnel continue to bring the huge fire at @SmurfitKappa's Neachells site in #Birmingham to a safe conclusion. Our drone footage shows the scale of our overnight firefighting operations.
— West Midlands Fire Service (@WestMidsFire) June 13, 2022
Read more on our website: https://t.co/619NiBnEKB pic.twitter.com/DapdO9oPiT
In a statement sent to Printweek, Smurfit Kappa said: “At approximately 19.40 BST yesterday evening a fire broke out in an adjacent premises to the Smurfit Kappa SSK Paper Mill in Birmingham. High winds carried the fire which reached the mill’s recovered fibre yard.
“Smurfit Kappa would like to thank both West Midlands Fire Service staff and the SSK team for their swift and professional response in controlling the fire within a few hours and ensuring the safety of all.
“The paper mill itself is unaffected and we do not expect any material impact on production.”
Smurfit Kappa’s share price fell by 3.7% in early trading today.
The business recently unveiled a sustainable paper that is water-resistant and has also just become the world’s first packaging company to become vegan certified after obtaining the Vegan Society trademark.
