Hunt continues for tyre fire culprits

Businesses have been counting the cost of an inferno which tore through more than 120,000 tyres as police continue to hunt for those responsible.

As reports came to light of youths filming a small fire near the site hours before last Monday’s blaze on Whitelea Grove, Mexborough, traders began picking up the pieces.

Toxic smoke billowed in into the sky over Mexborough and Swinton, and more than 20 local residents were evacuated from their homes, as firefighters battled the blaze for nearly three days last week.

More than 30 commercial vehicles were destroyed as flames tore through van hire specialist Vans in Yorkshire which shared the former SR Gent site with the mountain of rubber dumped illegally by a “rogue trader” more than 12 months ago.

But despite losing four days’ trade, neighbouring business Travis Perkins, escaped largely unscathed.

David Lee, branch manager at the builders’ merchants, said: “Around 95 per cent of our stock is flammable and the warehouse closest to the fire contained nothing but timber.

“It was clear when I arrived at the site at around 2.15am that we didn’t have time to move anything.

“Firefighters used three hoses to douse our warehouse with water and that’s what saved us.”

As he stood watching Monday morning’s inferno, David overheard a resident of nearby Frederick Street telling firefighters that he had twice reported youths acting suspiciously on the night of the blaze. “He told a senior firefighter that he had called the police twice that night,” he said.

“He said that a group of youths had been acting suspiciously near the site and then lit a small fire. They were joking around and filming the fire on their mobile phones.”

A police spokesman denied that any incidents had been reported prior to the fire.

As efforts to track the culprits gathered pace, site owner Kelvin Shaw revealed that he had been frustrated by a battle against red tape as he attempted to clear the site of its dangerous burden of 150,000 tyres.

He was left with the responsibility, and cost, of clearing the site after its former tenants, Tyre Trade Ltd, went into receivership in 2009.

He said: “In six weeks, I had managed to move 30,000 tyres but it could have moved so much faster if it hadn’t been for all the red tape.

“I asked the council if I could move in a tyre shredder that could have cleared the site in a matter of weeks but they turned me down.

“Now we’ve had the fire and that’s the one thing everyone feared would happen. It has been a nightmare.”

David Lee said that he sympathised with the site owner. He said: “He’s inherited a legacy from a rogue trader that previously occupied the site.

“I know he’d been trying hard to clear the site and coming up against some brick walls.”

This week a spokeswoman for the Environment Agency revealed that there should be no long-lasting environmental repercussions following the blaze.

She added: “Close monitoring has shown that the effects on the River Don and the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation were minimal.”

Police have urged anyone with information about the fire to contact them on 0114 220 2020 quoting incident number 136 of the 28 June 2010.