Firefighters Remain At Ryde Scrapyard Blaze As Dampening Down Continues Into Second Day

Firefighters remain at the scene of a major fire at a Ryde scrapyard nearly 24 hours after the incident first broke out, with crews continuing to damp down smouldering shipping containers.

The large-scale response has been ongoing since the blaze started off Smallbrook Lane on Wednesday morning, with firefighters working throughout the day and overnight to bring the incident under control.

This morning (Thursday), 6 monitoring jets remain in use to cool the affected containers, including one operating from the Aerial Ladder Platform, as crews continue tackling hotspots.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed the fire involves 8 metal shipping containers. The cause of the blaze has not yet been established.

At the height of the incident, firefighters from Ryde, Newport, Ventnor, Shanklin, Sandown, East Cowes and Freshwater were joined by colleagues from Lymington, Emsworth and Eastleigh.

Ryde's Aerial Ladder Platform, the Island's only such appliance, was also deployed, while additional mainland crews, including from Southsea, provided fire cover elsewhere on the Isle of Wight.

WightSAR's Drone Team also attended on Wednesday afternoon, helping incident commanders identify remaining hotspots from above so crews could target areas requiring further cooling.

A 200-metre safety cordon remains in place around the scrapyard and Smallbrook Lane is still closed in both directions, causing ongoing disruption.

Motorists are being urged to avoid the area and use alternative routes while emergency services remain at the scene.