The senior firefighter who commanded the scene of the industrial estate fire on Wigwam Lane yesterday (Sunday 14 November) has praised the work of the crews who helped contain and extinguish the blaze.

Thick black smoke could be seen billowing across the town of Hucknall from around 2pm yesterday and crews worked through the night to contain and extinguish the fire which it has been confirmed started around the back of Paul Wainwright's Construction yard.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, Group Manager Andy Macey said: "When I arrived there was very thick black smoke and our main priority was just getting as much water on it as we could.

"The reason it was so black and so visible was that it was tyres and some other materials (on fire) that you'd expect to find in a construction yard really. The big danger was its spread, I think on the whole we did a very good job of containing it really.

"It was significant incident from the hazards that were there as well because you're talking about construction, an industrial area where there were cylinders. There were risks to our firefighters and risks to the general public that we had to deal with.

It was the heating up of some of these cylinders that caused explosions which were heard all over the town.

"Our primary tactics were about protecting the other properties and the premises on the industrial estate, stopping the fire from spreading.

"And certainly up until the point where we had suitable water in place to actually extinguish it what we were doing with the water that we did have was protecting the other businesses and then also ensuring that what we could salvage was salvaged.

"For example, a number of HGV vehicles were removed from Wainwright's yard and as were those hazards of cylinders, which can become explosives, we removed what we could from the yard so they couldn't become involved. And then protected the other buildings up until the point we could get our water bowser and high volume pumps in place and then actually make inroads into extinguishing it.

"There were vehicles damaged, machinery, there was some damage to some buildings. It was certainly significant but I think on the whole we did a good job of limiting the damage to what it was really.

"It was deemed a very successful incident. Everybody worked very very hard and I think for the scale of what it is we dealt with it quite quickly and efficiently. We're pleased with the outcome."

Mr Macey also praised the spirit of the Hucknall community who donated food to the crews who had been called out to the incident.

He said: "As we always do, we got some really good support from the people in Hucknall. We had a load of food dropped off at the scene.

"If I'm honest I'm not exactly sure where it came from. It got delivered by some of our Hucknall on call staff and they said it had been donated by the people of Hucknall. I don't know specifics but there were boxes of Chinese and pizzas and McDonalds.

"It came at the perfect time to be honest because the crews had been there for a good few hours then and it was very appreciated and very welcome. It was that support we got from the local community that was superb; absolutely brilliant."

The investigation into the cause of the fire is already underway although this is expected to take some time due to the size of the area of the incident.

Mr Macey added: "We just can't speculate (as to the cause), it could be any number of reasons really at this stage."