Blaze firm praises emergency assistance
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AN Easter Ross business hit by a major blaze affecting thousands of tonnes of stored wood pellets has paid tribute to firefighters and its neighbours for the response to its plight.
The fire at the Balcas plant at the Cromarty Firth Industrial Park in Invergordon hit a 65ft tall silo containing an estimated 12,000 tonnes of wood pellets.
Teams from five fire stations worked relay-style round the clock to tackle the blaze, reported on the evening of Monday, November 19.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service stop notice was only issued on Saturday.
Invergordon Fire Service station manager Andrew Dick said on his Twitter account that it was great to complete the task after “a challenging and complicated five days’ firefighting” and paid tribute to crews and other locally based staff who assisted with the response.
A Balcas spokeswoman said: “Firstly we would like to take the opportunity to express how grateful we are to the fire service and to so many of our business neighbours who have come forward with calls and offers of support. They have provided equipment, vehicles, space and additional water supply. This has made a huge impact on our ability to return to normal operations so quickly and we are very thankful to them all.”
She said about half the wood pellets in the silo were affected.
She added: “We don’t anticipate any major impact on customer orders and we hope to make up production over the coming months.”
