By Mark Mackay

FIREFIGHTERS TACKLING a fearsome blaze in Perth on Friday evening averted an environmental disaster, it has emerged.

Vast quantities of oil-filled water poured out of the stricken Holden Environmental site, threatening public water mains and the River Tay.

The effects of it making its way into the waterway could have been catastrophic for the town and the surrounding area.

Such was the toxic nature of the oil—released from hundreds of oil filters awaiting recycling—that the surface of Shore Road was badly damaged and Perth and Kinross Council is investigating where sections may have to be relaid.

However, guided by experts, crews worked through the night to contain the flow while tackling a rapidly developing fire.

They were also faced with hazards such as volatile gas cylinders.

Tayside Fire and Rescue station manager Rab Middlemiss was one of the incident commanders on scene throughout the weekend.

He said, “I have no doubt that the actions of our firefighters—who worked tirelessly throughout this incident—have protected the safety of the public and prevented a far more significant environmental incident taking place.

“They also exhibited great personal bravery, particularly once it became clear that there were a variety of cylinders involved.”

The fire began to rage through the Holden Environmental Waste Management premises in the town’s Shore Road shortly before 10.30pm on Friday.

At the height of the blaze, seven pumps from all over Tayside were at the scene, with two aerial ladders, a command unit and specialist foam salvage and environmental protection units.

It took firefighters around three hours to contain the fire, while deep-seated hot-spots burned well into Saturday.

Fire officers were monitoring the site yesterday.

Mr Middlemiss said tackling the fire and preventing an environmental incident required a massive effort from all involved.

He said, “The initial fire and rescue service commander on scene soon established that this was a particularly hazardous fire.

“We also established that the main fuel for this fire was the numerous oil filters sitting within a series a metal containers.

“These were due to be recycled and there were literally hundreds of them.”

The station manager said the firefighting effort was anything but straightforward, due to the hazardous materials nearby.

He said, “We were aware of the presence of LPG, argon and oxygen cylinders and these formed a key part of our risk assessment and firefighting actions.

“However, while closing in on the main seat of the fire, firefighters noticed an acetylene cylinder that we hadn’t previously been aware of within a group of cylinders, close to the fire.

“We had to place a ground monitor to spray and cool these cylinders for a period of 24 hours, periodically checking them with a thermal imaging camera for hot-spots.

“This was essential to ensure public safety as acetylene cylinders are extremely volatile and can act like bombs when in a fire situation.”

Representatives from a host of agencies were on the scene throughout the fire, including the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Water, Perth Prison, Tayside Police and a specialist operations response team from Scottish Ambulance.

A Holden Environmental representative was also there to offer experience.

Mr Middlemiss said, “This was essential as the water run-off from the fire included vast quantities of oil.

“This was contained using absorbent pads and floating booms from our environmental protection unit until we received confirmation from Scottish Water that it could be released into a draining system that led to a holding tank where it could be treated without contaminating the water mains or nearby River Tay.

“This decision was taken in full consultation with Scottish Water and SEPA.”

Shore Road and Perth Harbour were shut to all but essential traffic throughout the weekend and traffic restrictions were still in place yesterday.

Meanwhile a Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said that management liaised with Tayside Fire and Rescue on Friday and decided that closing all the windows in A Hall was a satisfactory precaution.

On Saturday the exercise areas nearest to Holden’s were not used.

The police said yesterday that the fire was not being treated as suspicious.