Firefighters and staff have been praised by the head of Hills, the operator of the waste treatment plant at Northacre Industrial Estate in Westbury, after a fire broke out at 8.30pm yesterday.

Four fire engines from Trowbridge, Warminster, Bradford on Avon and an incident control vehicle from Devizes, supported by South West Ambulance Service, attended the Northacre resource recovery centre in Stephenson Road last night

Hills Waste Solutions, which operates the plant, said that no one was injured in the fire and the on-site emergency procedure was followed by staff on duty at the time.

According to Hills, no damage has been sustained to either the building or equipment at the site and the fire was contained almost immediately by the building’s fire suppression system.

Mike Webster, group director of Hills Waste Solutions, said: “We are grateful to our staff on site who reacted quickly to the situation and put in place the agreed emergency procedures, and to the fire service for attending promptly.

“The fire was contained almost immediately by the building’s fire suppression system and the fire service assisted in dampening down of the material ensuring that re-ignition did not occur.

“The fire suppression system installed at Northacre uses some of the latest technology and its efficiency has been proven by this incident.”

Normal operations resumed at the plant at 9am this morning and Hills said it is working with the fire service to investigate the cause of the fire.

The Northacre resource recovery centre, which became operational in December last year, processes 60,000 tonnes of Wiltshire’s household waste each year using mechanical biological treatment technology.