What happened at the Port of Tyne in 2013?

On 11 October 2013 a fire broke out at the Port of Tyne. No one was hurt in the incident.

The £20m facility opened in 2001 and was used for handling and storing 200 tonnes of biomass pellets.

How did the Port of Tyne fire start?

Overheating caused spontaneous ignition in a conveyor tower used to store then transfer biomass pellets, producing plumes of smoke that could be seen from the roadside.

50 firefighters attended the incident and gained control after a number of hours by using mechanical diggers to reach the seat of the fire. They remained on site for 24 hours to ensure there was no re-ignition.

What can the industry learn from the Port of Tyne fire?

Large piles of combustible material are known to self-ignite as heat builds up within the pile and has nowhere to escape. The Port of Tyne fire-monitoring systems didn’t pick up the fire in its incipient phase. By the time the system detected the fire it had already taken hold in a deep-seated fire within the fuel storage pile.

Carbon monoxide had built up within the unit and had to be cleared before fire crews could tackle the blaze. Firefighters digging into the stockpile to uncover the burning wood could then extinguish the flames.

This was not the first incident of its kind at this facility - in October 2011 a similar fire burned for 12 hours.