Fire at St Erth 08/08/16

[FGW_DID]

There is a large fire at the recycling plant close to the line at St Erth which appears to have spread onto the 'railway side of the fence'.

All trains On Stop & St Erth station reported being evacuated!

 

[kegdr]

From near my house over 12 miles away. Smoke trail streaks right across the sky. Looks like a very nasty fire...

 

[800001]

https://twitter.com/mjr1965/status/762735729537585154

Image taken from a tweet posted to GWR's twitter feed.

 

[PHILIPE]

Due to a large fire adjacent to line at St Erth and route closed, 1A40 Sleeper ex Penzance tonight starting Camborne formed by HST off 1C86 1506 ex Paddington which terminated Camborne due fire.

 

[sonic2009]

Interesting I wonder if we will see an empty stock working tommorow?

 

[ainsworth74]

Interesting I wonder if we will see an empty stock working tommorow?

It'll probably depend on what the down Sleeper ends up doing. It stays at Paddington then there wouldn't really be any need!

 

[Cowley]

I hope a) that nobody is hurt, and I hope b) that the gem of a station at St Erth isn't under threat. A lot of old dry wood and many layers of paint!

 

[jopsuk]

superb aerial shot of the fire

Station should be safe, fire is in the Y of the junction beyond the station. Seems to be (from the various tweets) a tyre place which would explain the ferocious fire with thick smoke. Not easy to extinguish a tyre fire

 

[Elecman]

As a Fire Brigade instructor friend told me years ago the old adage of fire fighting... You keep pouring the wet stuff onto the red stuff till the red stuff goes black. With tyres and modern firefighting techniques this no longer applies due to environmental considerations of excessive contaminated water run off

 

[yorksrob]

An update from the Cornwall Railway Society:

http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/headlines---latest-reports-and-photographs

Apparently the signal box has been evacuated and the station is out of bounds.

 

[Busaholic]

Regrettably, fire crews will have had some difficulty in getting to this tonight, at least from the Camborne direction, as the Hayle bypass is still closed after an earlier accident and there has been traffic chaos since at least 6 p.m. in surrounding areas e.g. it took me half an hour to drive less than a mile through Goldsithney: in fact, I aborted my journey at the first opportunity to turn off that wasn't a cul-de-sac. This was traffic in both directions, with Leedstown presumably signposted as the diversion route for southbound traffic - I was travelling northbound, and had no hint of the trouble to come driving through Marazion. otherwise my route would have been different.

If fire crews had to come through St Erth village, with its narrow, twisting roads and parked cars without passing spaces (I do it two or three times a week in a car, and I always breathe a sigh of relief when I'm through it) then they'll have earned their money before they even get to the fire.

 

[John Webb]

As a Fire Brigade instructor friend told me years ago the old adage of fire fighting... You keep pouring the wet stuff onto the red stuff till the red stuff goes black. With tyres and modern firefighting techniques this no longer applies due to environmental considerations of excessive contaminated water run off

The tyres themselves produce some unpleasant liquids and residue when burning, as well as the foam which assists water penetration into the heap of tyres. But these tyre fires can be very protracted incidents; I'd be surprised (and pleased!) if they can control it in less than 24 hours - and I note from maps there is a large watercourse (River Hayle) rather close to the site of the fire.......

 

[Busaholic]

The tyres themselves produce some unpleasant liquids and residue when burning, as well as the foam which assists water penetration into the heap of tyres. But these tyre fires can be very protracted incidents; I'd be surprised (and pleased!) if they can control it in less than 24 hours - and I note from maps there is a large watercourse (River Hayle) rather close to the site of the fire.......

I think accessibility to the watercourse could be difficult unless they have room to manoeuvre within the adjacent sewage works, with its trademark St Erth pong.

 

[83G/84D]

Signalbox at St Erth was evacuated several hours ago and train services on main line between Truro and Penzance suspended for the rest of the night.

Fire services responded from around the county and have an RV point at Asda car park in Hayle.

Up Sleeper starting Truro using an HST at least to Plymouth.

As stated A30 Hayle bypass still closed.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Due to a large fire adjacent to line at St Erth and route closed, 1A40 Sleeper ex Penzance tonight starting Camborne formed by HST off 1C86 1506 ex Paddington which terminated Camborne due fire.

1C86 being withdrawn wrong direction to Truro and will then form Up sleepers from there with a very late start.

 

[Busaholic]

.

Fire services responded from around the county and have an RV point at Asda car park in Hayle.

An excellent source of (salt) water if needed. I was walking my dog here a few weeks ago when five fire vehicles turned up, all marked as Marine Support Services, St Austell, and performed an exercise by the sluice gates to Carnsew Pool, the RNIB bird sanctuary, yards from the car park.

 

[83G/84D]

Link to latest news here:-

http://www.westbriton.co.uk/cornwal...t-in-st-erth/story-29598438-detail/story.html

 

[plymothian]

As of 00.50, there needs to be an inspection of the infrastructure - especially signalling equipment and electrical supply.
The St Ives branch is likely to remain closed, with St Erth box switched out; the main line is top priority.

 

[co-tr-paul]

Down slep stopped at Plymouth.

 

[PHILIPE]

Signalbox at St Erth was evacuated several hours ago and train services on main line between Truro and Penzance suspended for the rest of the night.

Fire services responded from around the county and have an RV point at Asda car park in Hayle.

Up Sleeper starting Truro using an HST at least to Plymouth.

As stated A30 Hayle bypass still closed.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


1C86 being withdrawn wrong direction to Truro and will then form Up sleepers from there with a very late start.

RTT confirms Sleeper started from Camborne 63L as planned. The HST would have had to carry on. What would there be at Plymouth to replace it ? Dwell time at Plymouth was only 3 minutes.

 

[co-tr-paul]

Wrong. One set with 604, trapped at PZ now at Long Rock. Other, down being prepped at zplymouth. Planned to work ecs to London to work tonights down in the hope 604 can work tonight's up if line clear, from pz, if not hst from Plymouth. May change of course.

 

[irish_rail]

Wrong. One set with 604, trapped at PZ now at Long Rock. Other, down being prepped at zplymouth. Planned to work ecs to London to work tonights down in the hope 604 can work tonight's up if line clear, from pz, if not hst from Plymouth. May change of course.

Had some problems with 605, whole set ended up down Laira last I heard, hope they fix it in time to make its way upto London later!

 

[co-tr-paul]

For info, LA60 with 174/185 is the trapped hst. Nothing else made it down ! Belove up replacement slep was OC49 035/128.

 

[theageofthetra]

Going a bit OT but has this disruption created some of the longest non stop ECS moves for some time?

 

[co-tr-paul]

IF the plan goes ahead, for maintenance reasons, a full set swap may have to take place, possibly Sunday...... ! There was an ecs run in march.

 

[Requeststop]

A Site well known to many in Penwith. I've passed by the tyre storage site often most recently back in February during my last visit home.

I've thought for some time that the storage area was too close to the track, and there seems to be quite a few recent fire incidents involving waste storage sites close to rail lines.

I've been listening to BBC Radio Cornwall today and the fire is under control though they are saying that it's going to be some time before the fire will be out. They are talking about some considerable time. 70 firefighters on the scene. Fortunately no one hurt. Thank God!

It seems that the Signal box and the Station at St Erth are OK due to the wind direction, which is a blessing. Also nearby residences seem to be fine too.

All rail services halted at Truro and no St Ives Branch either.

 

[Phil.]

I drove past to-day on my way to and from Camborne. Still lots of smoke and the fire is still burning though at a reduced rate. I rather suspect that it's being allowed to burn itself out now that it's been contained.

 

[co-tr-paul]

1530 conference, confirm ecs ply to OC. Line still shut so cant confirm what's happening regarding tonight's up. Going home now after silly day...... !

 

[83G/84D]

Plan was for tonight's sleeper to start Truro,running ECS down from Laira / Plymouth although that may well change.

 

[PHILIPE]

Line now re-opened but there will be alterations and delays for a while yet as services get back to normal. St Erth station is still closed however, so no calls there and St.Ives Branch remains closed.

 

[yorksrob]

It seems that the Signal box and the Station at St Erth are OK due to the wind direction, which is a blessing. Also nearby residences seem to be fine too.
.

This is indeed very fortunate.