More than 5,000 tyres went up in smoke following a major fire at a Midland garage store room.
Smoke could be seen billowing for miles around during the blaze at the SS Autocare unit in Willenhall Road, Wolverhampton today (Mon).
At its height, some 40 firefighters using nine engines were needed to bring the blaze under control.
A hose fired jets of water pumped from a nearby canal onto the blaze from up high on a hydraulic platform.
Three crews from the Wolverhampton area, along with two from Walsall and one each from West Bromwich, Oldbury, Wednesbury and Bilston were at the scene from 3am.
The road was closed throughout the emergency.
It took about four hours to bring the blaze under control and then firefighters spent the day damping down. Structural engineers were also checking the building to see what parts can be saved and what has to be demolished.
Mick Birch, operations commander for West Midlands Fire Service, said: “It is a severe fire and the building is 100 per cent damaged.
“The crews had to work exceedingly hard to gain access and force entry to the building which was already severely damaged by the fire. It had broken through the roof early on and we believe there were about 5,000 tyres on fire.
“The cause is unknown at the stage but investigations will be carried out to find out what happened.”
It was the latest in a series of major blazes at industrial premises across the region.
On July 1 a Chinese lantern floated into the Jayplas recycling depot in Smething setting fire to 100,000 tonnes of plastic causing £6 million damage to the business. Fire crews described the blaze as one of the largest they had witnessed in the West Midlands.
And earlier this month 500 tonnes of paper went up in smoke at the Premier Waste recyling plant on Walsall Road, Perry Barr.
