Buckshaw Village fire: Efforts to extinguish blaze at Clayton Hall landfill continue with crews expected to remain at scene all day

The fire started at Quercia Limited's site off Dawson Lane, near Buckshaw Village, at around 12.15am on Wednesday (July 13).

By 1pm that day, 15 fire engines were battling the flames, with crews expected to remain at the scene for the rest of the day.

Incident commander Mal Dewhurst said: “We estimate approximately 6,000 sq m of surface area of the landfill is affected by the fire."

By 9.40am on Friday (July 15), Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said crews remained at the scene.

“The incident ... has been reduced to three fire engines and one high volume pump,” a spokesman for LFRS said.

“The drone team are currently heat mapping to identify hotspot areas and firefighters are continuing with three ground monitors to target those hotspots.

“Crews are expected to be here in the run up to weekend damping down, with multi-agency meetings continuing today.”

A smoke plume was no longer being produced but residents were advised to seek medical attention if they had been badly affected by the fumes.

Chair of the Clayton Hall Landfill Committee Coun Mark Clifford said he was “deeply shocked at the scale and serious nature of the fire”.

“Over the coming days there are serious questions that need answering by Quercia as to how this fire occurred and how it spread so rapidly,” he added.

“My residents are rightly angered that they are once again suffering from living near this landfill.

“This is the third major incident in the past five years after the stink issues of 2017/18, the fire caused by arsonists in April 2021 and now this one.”

He added that once the incident was over he would be calling an urgent meeting to discuss what had happened and what the future held for the troubled site.