Carry out appropriate intervention: Fires in waste sites

Fire and rescue services should

• Assess the level of risk within their service ground and provide fire and rescue service personnel with suitable and sufficient equipment and firefighting media to deal with fires in waste sites
• Gather information and pre-plan for incidents on waste sites, making relevant and up to date risk information available for attending personnel

Incident commanders should

• Carry out an initial incident assessment and the resultant risk assessment
• Use risk-critical information to identify priority actions, where intervention will be required, as part of the overall tactical plan
• Manage water run-off carefully, to avoid polluting watercourses and groundwater
• Implement environmental protection measures to control, reduce or eliminate environmental damage or pollution, using pollution control hierarchy: At source Close to source On the surface In drainage or along a pathway Contain, manage, treat pollution at the receptor
• Ensure that protection measures are robust and sustainable
• Request any further resources required to maintain protection tactics
• Consider the possible recirculation of fire water run-off, to reduce water used, as well as the quantity of water being disposed through the foul water drainage system. Refer to the Environment Agency and DCLG environmental handbook and Environmental protection.
• Develop a media strategy, in liaison with other agencies, to achieve clear and concise communication to the local community
• Ensure regular communication with the environmental agency, preferably on-site if possible
• Consider the potential for undetected subsurface firespread creating hidden voids
• Consider the use of aerial or reach appliances to avoid crews working on unstable ground