A huge fire started in a tyre recycling plant in Sherburn in Elmet yesterday. I headed down there late Thursday night for Getty Images to try and get some pictures through the night and again through the following day.
Thousands of old tyres were, and still are, burning at the recycling plant in North Yorkshire sending a plume of stinking acrid smoke high into the air. It could take several days for the fire to eventually burn itself out. Emergency services are reluctant to drench the fire in water because this would cause further pollution as the excess water drained away into the ground and surrounding rivers and streams.
Fire crews are in constant attendance keeping a watchful eye around the clock on the area to make sure that the fire doesn’t flare up again causing any further risk to people and property.
A selection of my pictures are below…
*For those who like a bit of technical stuff and are interested in the gear used the pictures were shot with a Fuji X Pro 1 with the 18mm (equivalent to 27mm) F2 lens and a Nikon D3s with either a 70-200 f2.8 VR or a 28mm F2.8 AIS manual focus lens.
Strong winds keep the smoke plume close to the ground as clouds pass overhead
Visible from a considerable distance the flames rose over the tree tops
A pile of burning tyres is seen between some of the buildings on the site
The flames burned hard all through the night with water sprays (visible at left of frame) keeping them from spreading to the buildings
A vehicle at the re-cycling plant is silhouetted against flames at the fire
Heavy smoke from the fire surrounds a hear of sheep in a nearby field
A farmhouse close to the site of the fire was under the path smoke plume
Fire services were on site and preparing to go forward to monitor the fire
Sunlight breaks through a gap in the heavy smoke as emergency services prepare to go forward to monitor the fire
Fire crews on a shift change make use of the ‘Rapid Relief Team’ sandwhich van which was on site to provide brews and bacon sarnies to the crews…and photographers 😉
See more of the work of the RRT via the link… http://www.rapidreliefteam.org/
The Incident Commander steps down from the Command Unit following a briefing
Steel wire is all that remains from some of the burning tyres at the site
The Incident Commander surveys the site of the fire
A fire truck drives alongside the burning tyres as a hose carries water from a nearby lake to a sprinkler system operating close-by
The Incident Commander looks on as black smoke rises from the burning tyres
Tyres continue to burn at the site of the fire in the re-cycling plant
Tyres continue to burn at the site of the fire in the re-cycling plant
A member of the fire crew works at the site of the fire
An area of approximately seven acres was affected by the fire that raged through the re-cycling plant
Click the link here to see an article in the Daily Mail about the fire and with a dozen or so of my pictures. A gallery of tear sheets and screen grabs below show some of the other uses.
Copyright Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
www.ianforsythphotography.co.uk
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