A public meeting has been called to discuss pollution which has resulted from a nut factory fire in Northamptonshire
The major fire started at Quality Nut Products in Weedon, on June 26 and firefifghters’ successful efforts to put it out saw huge volumes of water enter a nearby balancing pond, which subsequently became polluted.
Representatives from the Environment Agency, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service and Daventry District Council will attend the meeting, which will be led by Weedon Bec Parish Council, on Wednesday July 24 at 6pm at Weedon Bec Village Hall.
Karen Pell, a senior environmental protection officer at Daventry District Council, said: “We are pleased with work that was done to put out the fire and minimise pollution. We know that the pond in Weedon received some water and are working with the community to assess the odour this is causing.
“As the pollutants in the fire water break down we anticipate there will continue to be a smell and are monitoring the impact of this on residents.
“We are working with the Environment Agency, the community and the owners of the factory to see what solutions might be found.
He added: “Public Health England have confirmed that there are no health risks associated with burnt nut oil.”
The fire service and Environment Agency controlled the water runoff from the site by blocking surface water drains.
However, drains at the premises, within the hazard zone, did allow water to enter the local drainage system, which leads to a balancing pond below the site.
The Environment Agency treated the balancing pond to keep oxygen levels high, with the aim of supporting aquatic life.
When they saw the balancing pond was too polluted to maintain life, specialist contractors were brought in to contain and clean up as part of the ongoing incident management.
A joint decision was then made to contain all pollution in this area to ensure there was no contamination of the River Nene.
Greg Oakes from the Environment Agency said: “We work hard with our emergency partners to prevent fires from causing significant pollution. We have to balance the need to put fires out with the possibility of producing contaminated fire water that could escape”.
“This fire lasted for many days and we managed to contain almost all of the fire water and put the fire out without further damage to property”.
“We have worked hard to contain what water did escape and our efforts here continue.”
“We are aware that the pond in Weedon has been badly affected. We have dedicated a lot of resources during the emergency to clean the pond. Now that the emergency is over our contractors will attend one final time to clean as much of the pond as possible.
“The pond will take time to recover. We are currently trying to ascertain who owns the pond to discuss what should be done to further clean it up. We will sample and monitor the water quality to ensure no damage to the Nene occurs.”
Group Manager Luke Hodson, of Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, added: “This was a significant fire which was contained by the efforts of our firefighters and working with staff from partner agencies we were able to reduce the impact of the fire and associated hazards to surrounding commercial and residential neighbours.
“Working with the Environment Agency we were able to contain the pollution and stop its path to the River Nene and the devastation this would have caused.”
The Environment Agency has continued to use contractors to clean the pond and estimate this will continue until the weekend.
Efforts are now being made to trace the pond’s owner to ensure that any further works to clean up are completed.
Mrs Pell added: “We have also contacted the loss adjuster acting on behalf of the factory owners and will continue to liaise with them closely to ensure work progresses as required.”