FIRE crews from Barrow, Ulverston and Grange battled to bring a blaze under control during a fire believed to have damaged recycling machinery worth around £100,000.

The emergency services were called to Wicks Waste Management and Recycling in Barrow at around 1.15pm today (Saturday September 2). The Barrow crew had been attending Furness General Hospital at the time of the call-out and there was around a 15-minute response time for two Ulverston engines to arrive at the scene, Barrow crew manager Mike Dobson explained.

The Ulverston crews were joined by one from Grange and, once they had finished at FGH, firefighters from Barrow. They found a compactor crushing machine well alight, which had set fire to a large amount of material within it.

Mr Dobson said: “Because of the delay and fire engines having to come from out of town, it was a well-developed fire. The staff at Wicks had moved well back and done the best they could but, sadly, that’s what we face when there’s more than one incident in a town and we’ve only got one engine.

“Nobody was hurt but I imagine there will be some significant financial loss for Wicks - it’s a £100,000 machine. From our point of view, it was well dealt with - it was down pretty quick once we got there.”

The fire was extinguished using compressed air foam, Mr Dobson added, and his crew had returned to base by 5pm.