Kent Fire and Rescue Service has been called to Westwood Industrial Estate today (April 22) after reports of another fire at the former Hilger Analytical unit which was the site of a 25 day blaze last year.
Smoke was seen coming from the site which last went up in flames on September 15 when 16,000 bales of illegally stored household waste caught fire.
At the height of the inferno 14 fire engines and 80 firefighters were at the scene. Northdown Primary was closed due to “unsafe carbon monoxide readings,” and there were reports of Thanet children complaining of health problems including chest infections and asthma attacks.
Firefighters remained at the site for three weeks as the two-tonne bales, tightly wrapped in plastic, continued to smoulder.
A boy and two girls, all aged 12 from Margate, and a 13-year-old girl from Margate were arrested on suspicion of arson on September 23. All have since been released without charge.
The site owner Conservation Property Holdings, registered in the British Virgin Islands and business rate holder DW Lands are yet to clear the site.
An Environment Agency investigation into the illegally stored waste is ongoing.
Today the fire was much smaller, being confined to rubbish alight in a container.
A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “Kent Fire and Rescue Service was called to a small quantity of rubbish alight in a metal container at the Westwood industrial estate. Crews used a hose reel to extinguish the fire.”
