Trail of destruction after blaze at Smethwick recycling plant

The pictures reveal the extent of the damage more than two weeks after the blaze took hold at the Jayplas plant in Dartmouth Road, Smethwick.

At its height the fire was so hot it activated the sprinkler system in a neighbouring building owned by Office Team, saving it from being damaged.

The fire, which caused damage worth £6million, was sparked by a Chinese lantern. It was one of the biggest ever fought by West Midlands Fire Service.

For six days firefighters battled the blaze at the site, and are still returning occasionally to check for any problems.

Company bosses are currently counting the cost of the blaze, and waiting for insurers to assess the site.

They hope to start the process of clearing it up next week.

• Caught on CCTV - Chinese lantern that sparked huge Smethwick blaze

• Bosses speak out after Chinese lantern sparks region's biggest fire

The three and half acre recycling centre is currently a site of devastation. A total of 10,000 tonnes of plastic were destroyed during the blaze.

The 8ft bales of plastic which were piled four high have been reduced to a black twisted layer which is littered with the metal wiring that held together the bales.

The heat of the fire also damaged the concrete underneath the bales, producing huge cracks, dust and rubble.

A shelter which protected plastic which was of higher value was gutted by the fire and the metal girders that held it up have become twisted and distorted by the heat.

The wall which bordered the site was partly destroyed and toppled onto a lorry on the other side, while the trees that border Dartmouth Road remain scorched.

The inferno at the Jayplas recycling plant, which was sparked on June 30, was tackled by more than 200 firefighters at its peak.

Nine firefighters had to be treated for heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation suffered while fighting the blaze.

CCTV footage showed a Chinese lantern landing on the site, which contained up to 100,000 bales of plastic, before it burst into flames.

It sent plumes of acrid black smoke billowing 6,000ft into the air, with reports that it could be seen from as far away as Kettering in Northamptonshire.

The firm's bosses are thankful that their main office building was not destroyed in the fire.

There are some scorch marks to the roof, but otherwise it was not damaged.

Company bosses, however, remain positive and have promised to reopen and rebuild.

Spokesman for Jayplas, Mike Maxwell, said: "Jayplas would once again like to thank the emergency services and local authorities for their help in fighting and containing this fire.

"Their hard work and professionalism managed to restrict this fire and although this was a terrible incident it could have been much worse.

"Thankfully it was contained within our site and there were no serious injuries.

"Our main priority now is to work closely with the Environment Agency to agree a plan to clear the site.

"Our main priorities in doing this will be to ensure there is minimal impact on the local environment and little or no disruption to our neighbours.

"The fire has devastated the yard and the stock but we will get this cleared quickly and hope to be operational again in two to three months.

"No jobs have been affected as we have relocated some of the site staff to our other factories in the Midlands until we have the site operational again."

"We want to get things back to normal as soon as we can and move on from what has been a tragic accident that nobody could have foreseen." The firm is currently trying to salvage what they can from the fire to recycle, but the majority of the waste will end up in landfill.

In the wake of the fire and a second at an electrical recycling centre in Kent, the Chief Fire Officers Association is looking to work with partners to review current safety guidance on such sites.

Vaj Randeniya, who is Chief Fire Officer of the West Midlands Fire Service and the president of the Chief Fire Officers Association, said: "The fire in Smethwick spread because all the waste was compacted in effectively one great massive lump.

"We want to work with the industry in order that we can make sure these products are stored as safely as possible, they are unlikely to catch fire, and if they do that the fires will be very very small.

"We think there are issues around planning which we could look at which could reduce the impact of these fires."