Lancaster City Council has assured residents near the Lune Industrial Estate that it will continue to monitor the former Supaskips building and has written to the owners urging them to address the condition of the site.
In December, a fire broke out in the former Supa Skips building
Last December, a major fire broke out at the former Supaskips site and the City Council was involved in the joint multi-agency response team to bring the incident under control.
Although the city government has no direct responsibility for the privately owned site, it quickly became clear that a rapid solution was needed for the benefit of residents, businesses and to protect the environment.
For this reason, the fire service agreed to donate a total of £1.4 million to help Lancashire Fire Brigade gain access to the fire by covering the cost of demolishing part of the building.
This enabled firefighters to extinguish the fire, dispose of waste and reduce the risk of another fire breaking out. After a period of intensive lobbying, the company was later able to recover £764,916 of this expenditure from the government.
Some eight months later, the site appears largely untouched after emergency services declared the fire extinguished. The city council also sent a letter to the owners reminding them of their responsibility for the safety of the site.
Phillip Black, leader of Lancaster City Council, said: “Although the emergency phase of the incident is over, it is important that people know that we continue to put pressure on property owners to meet their responsibilities. They have a duty to ensure their premises are safely maintained and do not pose any potential risks to the community.”
“In addition to reminding them of their obligations, we have also requested a meeting to discuss the matter further and learn more about their plans for the long-term future of the building.”
The Council can now also provide further details of the air quality results measured during the fire. Good air quality across the district is a priority for the Council and it has invested in a number of air quality sensors, a resource that most local authorities do not have access to for use in such situations.
The air sensors enabled the city council to monitor the concentrations of the harmful fine dust particles PM10 and PM2.5. In consultation with experts from the UK Health Authority (UKHSA), limits for fine dust pollution were set to ensure the safety of citizens.
These limits were 100 µg/m3 for PM10 and 70 µg/m3 for PM2.5, averaged over an 8-hour period. Fine particulate matter is a widespread air pollutant and consists of very small particles found in dust and smoke. The particles have a diameter of less than 10 micrometers (PM10), 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) or even smaller.
Because the monitors produced real-time data, minute-by-minute updates were available, meaning the Council and UKHSA could be immediately notified of a risk if the limit was exceeded.
Only once – on December 13 – did the particulate matter level reach the set limit within an 8-hour period, but this fell rapidly from 103 µg/m3 PM10 to 46 µg/m3 in the following 8-hour period.
When weather and wind conditions changed, the smoke plume regularly changed direction so that no area was exposed to the smoke for a long period of time – the health risks were thus significantly reduced.
At no other time were the levels measured above the limits. Monitoring began as soon as the fire broke out and continued throughout the incident.
Last updated: August 15, 2024
