Cause of Heath Town fire revealed as company responds to blaze
A blaze that broke out at a battery recycling centre in Wolverhampton has been blamed on rechargable batteries.
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Fire crews were called to LiBatt recycling centre on Lincoln Street in Heath Town after a fire was reported just after midnight on Wednesday.
They have confirmed that they will remain at the battery recycling site behind the railway station to make the building safe and bring it back into use.
The blaze is said to have been sparked by rechargable lithium ion batteries. It was said to have been contained in one of seven bays, and the plant is expected to reopen later today.
There were no injuries and no damage to the rest of the centre.
Lincoln Street remains closed but the main Wednesfield Road and businesses remain open.
Station Commander Samantha Lewis-Brownson from West Midlands Fire Service was the incident commander on site.
She said: "Our fire control received a call for an incident to Litbatt Recycling at 12.08am on October 2. We dispatched three appliances which got to the scene within five minutes of the call. We subsequntly had ten appliances on scene and one HP,. The fire involved lithium ion batteries. We are currently on scene with three appliances. I am still the incident commander and we are working with the onsite personnel to get the fire out and the building back into use."
It is the second blaze to have broken out at LiBatt recycling centre – in January, 25 firefighters tackled a battery blaze after residents nearby heard the sound of an 'explosion'.
A spokesperson for Recyclus Group that owns LiBatt, said: "At 12.08am on October 2 2024, there was an isolated fire at Recyclus’ LiBatt plant in Wolverhampton. Fire engines arrived promptly on the scene and the fire was quickly contained.
The company’s fire safety management protocols worked successfully as confirmed by the emergency services and the plant will reopen today after consultation with all the appropriate agencies. The fire broke out in a goods inward building and was contained within one of seven bays which is used to store batteries prior to processing, and is separate to the recycling plant. There was no damage to the other six bays.
"No one was hurt and no other buildings or plant were affected. The burnt material will be processed through Recyclus’ system so that no materials are wasted or sent to landfill."
