CORNWALL Fire and Rescue Service says a fire at a green waste recycling centre near Falmouth is still burning more than a week after they were called to the site.

“Vile” smoke from the blaze is still being reported by residents several miles away.

Firefighters were called to the Greenspot centre at Higher Kergilliack Farm, near Falmouth, at 8.22am on Monday, September 30. The officer in charge of the operation says he’s unable to give a definite time when it will be fully extinguished but fire crews are in for the “long haul”.

Martyn Addinall, manager at Falmouth Fire Station, says crews on the scene are making progress albeit slowly as it is “quite a challenging incident”.

He said: “We’re having to take a measured, tactical move to get this fire out, so we’re in for the long haul unfortunately. It’s important to reiterate that it’s compost only. There are no plastics involved – it’s just branches, tree trunks, etc, that have been piled up over a number of years.”

Mr Addinall said the burning pile is about 100 metres long by 30 metres wide and the height of a two-storey building. “It’s all alight and it’s what we would call deep-seated. Every time we dig more of the pile away we find that everything within it is engulfed in fire.”

He said they can’t keep putting water on top as it runs off the vegetation, so industrial-sized buckets of waste are being pulled out and extinguished before being moved to another field by lorry.

Staff are on rotas to tackle the blaze while ensuring there’s enough cover across the rest of Cornwall. There is currently a Falmouth crew on site, another on-call crew and a crew from Newquay using that station’s high power pump, taking water from a non-drinking water reservoir three kilometres away. About 100,000 litres of water are being used every hour.

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is working with the Environment Agency and UK Health England to ensure no further problems are being caused elsewhere by the use of water and other elements of the operation.

Residents have been in contact to say they can still smell “vile” smoke as far away as Penryn. Mr Addinall said he couldn’t guarantee that there won’t be any smoke, but crews are doing everything to ensure smoke plumes are not exacerbated by the wind. He warned residents to keep their windows closed if they see smoke approaching their area.

He added that there have been reports of children playing at the site and possibly lighting fires. Spontaneous heat, which can cause barn fires, is another possible cause. A thorough investigation will take place once the fire is out.

“It is going to take time and I’d hate to say when we will guarantee we will finish,” said Mr Addinall. “Within the next couple of days we will have a good idea of the timescale.”