A LITHIUM battery was likely the cause of the fire at Dunbar Landfill Site, according to the group’s business development director.
A public meeting was held last Wednesday at Dunbar Town House, where members of the public questioned Valencia Waste Management, SEPA and East Lothian Council on the handling of the fire which burned for five days at the Valencia site in August and resulted in Dunbar and surrounding villages being covered with smoke.
READ MORE: Dunbar landfill fire dubbed 'environmental disaster' by worried locals
The meeting, which was attended by about 25 people, was chaired by South Scotland MSP Martin Whitfield. East Lothian’s MP Kenny MacAskill was also in attendance, as were ward councillors Lyn Jardine and Donna Collins and council leader Norman Hampshire. East Lothian MSP Paul McLennan was unable to attend after being held up in Parliament.
Paul Ringham, business development director at Valencia, told the meeting that a lithium battery was the likely cause of the fire.
He said: “Our investigation found that we are almost certain that the fire was caused by a lithium battery which has exploded.”
The site is licensed to dispose of non-hazardous waste only. Lithium batteries, which are often found in disposable vapes, are not permitted on the site.
Waste disposed of at the site does not come from East Lothian homes, as county household waste is taken to Millerhill, near Dalkeith, where the material is used to generate heat and electricity.
The Valencia site is allowed to take waste from across the UK and also takes waste from commercial businesses in East Lothian.
Mr Ringham said: “There were a number of key lessons learnt from this incident.
“The communication from Valencia to the public on this matter was not acceptable and I apologise for that.
“We should have responded sooner to let people know what was going on. Unfortunately, we were too occupied with dealing with the fire that we didn’t do this soon enough.
“The second lesson was the escalation hierarchy.
“We found that the delay from the fire being reported to the site manager from the control room was about three to four hours. This was not acceptable.
“Finally, we want to liaise better with local emergency services on what to do if this was to happen again.
“Unfortunately, when the fire service arrived, the water supply was too far away from the fire, which caused a problem in reaching it.
“We also unfortunately lost two vital pieces of equipment.
“Two bulldozers which were being used to smother the fire experienced heat damage and were lost.
“As a result, we had to call for backup elsewhere.
“We are looking at how we can better judge how closely we get to a fire to avoid heat damage.”
He also said that it was soon agreed that putting water on the fire would only make it worse.
Members of the public questioned the long-term impact of the smoke plumes from the fire, asking why an air quality assessment was not carried out.
A representative from NHS Lothian could not attend the meeting, but Mr Whitfield read out a statement from the organisation which said that instructions to carry out an air quality assessment would be ordered by SEPA and carried out by Airborne Hazard Emergency Response (AHER).
The NHS Lothian statement said that, from studying previous fires, there was no indication that the plume from the fire would have an impact on the health of local residents.
But members of the public were concerned by the lack of an air quality assessment.
One audience member said: “Our children shouldn’t have to breathe in the air. My daughter has had a sore throat for five weeks now. The air quality should have been measured.
“How can we know the dangers of the air when we haven’t done an assessment?”
Mr Ringham said that there was no obligation for Valencia to carry out an air quality assessment.
Another audience member questioned whether compensation would be paid out to farmers or businesses which might have been impacted by the smoke.
Mr Ringham said in response: “At present, Valencia does not intend to pay out any compensation to locals.”
READ MORE: Dunbar landfill fire: Valencia Waste Management says sorry
The assessment carried out by Valencia has been passed on to SEPA for investigation. SEPA’s investigation will determine whether any legal action will be required against Valencia.
Kenny Boag, head of environmental performance national at SEPA, said: “We will now examine the investigation from Valencia and report any issues to the procurator fiscal if necessary.”
When asked by Mr Whitfield how long this would take, Mr Boag said: “It could take a considerable amount of time.”
The meeting served as the launch of a community liaison group for Valencia. A previous group met regularly when the site was under Viridor ownership.
A spokesperson for Valencia welcomed questions to be raised at a future meeting to be sent to enquiries @valencia.co.uk
No date has been confirmed for a future meeting of the group.
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