UPDATE Major fire at recycling plant near Ancaster brought under control, says fire service

Within the last half hour, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service have reported that they have brought the major fire at Mid Uk Recycling’s Barkston Heath site under control.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service has reported that 12 crews and auxiliary appliances have been dealing with the ‘major incident’ after it was reported at around 1.30am this morning.

A major incident was declared at 2.35am and 12 appliances were called out at 3.20am coming from across the county including a high volume pump from Gainsborough and a command support unit from Market Rasen.

They say the incident is no longer being treated as a major incident. Relief crews are now in attendance. No injuries have been reported.

Initially, in an earlier statement the service had said: “At present we have three main jets in use - waste materials on fire. Please keep doors and windows shut due to protracted incident.”

Lincolnshire Police control room warned that the B6403 at Barkston Heath (High Dike) is closed from Barkston airfield to Ancaster crossroads with the A153 and the A153 has been closed to traffic between the crossroads at Ancaster and where it joins the A607 at Honington. Since then the A153 is passable with care due to hoses being laid across the road from Woodland Waters lakes.

The closure was predicted to extend beyond this morning’s rush hour.

A resident reported the fire on the Ancaster community Facebook page, saying: “Smoke from plant rising and blowing north.”

Mid Uk suffered a fire at its nearby Caythorpe plant in July.

The recycling company has experienced other fires at its Caythorpe and Barkston Heath sites over the years - seen as a hazard of the recycling industry due to working with such combustible materials.

The waste management company was fined £100,000 in June with fees of £50,000 for breach of environmental regulations following a fire at its Barkston Heath site in July 2015.

As part of the proceedings the company also agreed to pay up to £230,000 to Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service to cover the cost of its services in dealing with the fire at the time.