About 120 firefighters are tackling a “severe” fire which broke out in a wood pellet silo at Tilbury Power Station this morning.
The fire, which involves up to 6,000 tonnes of wood pellets, is already being described by incident commander chief fire officer David Johnson as one of the most techicnally challenging fires he had been involved with in his 20-year career.
Essex Fire and Rescue Service have now confirmed that a secondary blaze in berths 28 & 29 of the nearby docks is unconnected with the power station fire. It involved machinery and has now been dealt with.
Two storage silos containing wood pellets are currently on fire at the power station, which has been shut down.
Chief fire officer Johnson said he expected the fire to be a protracted incident going on for some hours, if not days.
“Firefighting operations are being hindered by the fact that the fire is high up in the main structure of the building, making it difficult for crews to reach it,” said Mr Johnson.
“The whole of the building is heavily smoke-logged and crews are devising a tactical plan to look at the safest possible way of getting foam onto the fire.”
The fire started in a biomass hopper at 7.45am, with machinery and conveyer equipment also believed to be affected.
“The power station has confirmed that all of its employees have been accounted for and have not sustained any injuries,” the fire brigade said.
Tilbury has recently been converted to include biomass in its fuel mix.
