FIREFIGHTERS tackled a blaze that engulfed a number of lorries parked on the premises of battery recycling firm Portable Battery Recycling Ltd. (PBR) in Wythenshawe, Manchester. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said the blaze broke out on Ennis Close, Wythenshawe, on Sunday February 23 and forced local residents to evacuate their homes.

The fire raged for over three hours and involved ten fire engines at its height, scaling back to four engines as it was brought under control after nearly three hours, GMFRS said. The fire service had advised local residents to keep their windows and doors closed and to avoid the area as huge plumes of black smoke hung over the vicinity. GMFRS said fire engines from across Greater Manchester were called to the blaze. A spokesperson said: “Crews arrived quickly” and worked hard to extinguish the fire.

Greater Manchester Police and North West Ambulance Service were also in attendance but confirmed there were no casualties. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said a cordon had been put in place and its officers had helped evacuate nearby homes. Residents have since returned to their homes. PBR has an operating licence for five trucks and one trailer, and specialises in collecting, recycling and disposing of portable, household, industrial and automotive batteries. One user on X, previously known as Twitter, described seeing smoke and hearing explosions ‘popping off’ from what is thought to be a battery recycling plant at the Roundthorn Industrial Estate in Wythenshawe. They posted: ‘Reports of a huge fire at a battery recycling facility in Wythenshawe. Smoke visible and explosions popping off are audible from Altrincham, 2-3 miles away and a smell in the air.’

Others in the vicinity have reported hearing ‘explosions all morning’. Online videos show dramatic scenes of black smoke rising high into the air, obscuring the bright flames beneath. Further images depict emergency services at the scene, with police vehicles stationed outside the estate. An investigation into the cause of the huge fire in Wythenshawe continued the following day. Police and fire service experts returned to the scene of the blaze on the Roundthorn Industrial Estate.

The fire broke out at just after 8am. The next day, the blackened shells of vehicles destroyed in the blaze could be seen in the yard of the premises. On its website, the company describes itself as ‘the UK’s only specialist portable battery recycler, with an aim to transform the way portable batteries are collected and recycled across the UK, whilst providing the most competitive and compliant collection service.’ It adds: ‘We guarantee an efficient and cost-effective solution for the collection, storage, recycling and disposal of waste batteries, ensuring you are fully compliant with current legislation and regulations.’ The fire led to some homes in the area being evacuated and other residents were advised to keep doors and windows closed. A huge plume of black smoke could be seen for miles. A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: “Shortly after 8.15am on Sunday 23 February, fire engines and specialist appliances from across Greater Manchester were called to attend a fire involving heavy goods vehicles and a commercial unit on Caldey Road, Manchester. “Crews arrived quickly and extinguished the fire using hose reel jets, an aerial ladder and other specialist equipment.” Comments on social media were scathing: ‘Another fire at a recycling facility! What are the safety standards for running these operations?’

Government and councils are very hot on environmental concerns at the moment; yet it can be argued that the impact on air, soil and water quality from any of these types of explosions and fires, whether from cars, lorries, buses or entire battery storage stations and processing facilities seems to be overlooked. Battery storage stations for solar plantations and battery storage and ‘recycling’ facilities have been exploding and catching on fire regularly in recent years, without much alarm from the media, who seem to keep us in fear over threats and problems which may or may not occur. There was a big fire in Liverpool in 2020, and another

in Glasgow in 2021, and this raised huge concerns over both the safety and environmental credentials of these so-called clean, green technologies. A large-scale explosion and fire similar to this one ocurred again in Glasgow, in 2024, at WEEE Solutions Ltd., and there have been several well-reported electric bus and car explosions in the past year. On page 5 in this issue, we expose the true science behind oil and why we proclaim it as a natural fuel – nobody can argue that it is much more efficient as a source of fuel, and therefore much, much cheaper.

In this race to Net Zero, the alternatives they are offering to cheap, natural fuels like oil and gas – lithium-ion batteries, huge solar plantations on prime farmland, and expensive, inefficient wind turbines which are also notorious for exploding and breaking – are devastating to the natural world and our health once they go wrong, and they seem to go wrong quite often. They also result in much higher bills, meaning that somebody, somewhere is getting very rich from government policy, rather than that policy benefitting all of the people. Does anyone expect anything else from government nowadays?