PEOPLE were advised to stay indoors and close their windows during a massive fire in Somerset yesterday evening (Thursday, May 5).

Crews from 10 fire stations attended the incident in Lufton Trading Estate, Brympton, Yeovil.

The blaze started in a skip within a secure compound shortly before 6.30pm.

Somerset County Gazette:

Firefighters confirmed that 130 tonnes of non-hazardous waste was ablaze.

At the height of the fire, a large plume of smoke drifted towards Cartgate bypass and nearby properties.

Fire engines from Yeovil, Sherborne, Crewkerne, Street, Ilminster, Bridgwater, Martock, Somerton, Castle Cary and Wellington Fire Station attended.

Somerset County Gazette:

Throughout the incident the following equipment was used:

  • three hose reel jets;
  • four main jets
  • a water carrier;
  • an aerial ladder platform;
  • two on-site mechanical diggers;
  • eight breathing apparatus;
  • two ground monitors.

Slight damage was also reported to a mechanical waste conveyor machine.