Fire service called as lithium battery sparks bin lorry fire in north Shropshire

The fire service were called to north Shropshire on Tuesday, after a fire caused by a suspected lithium battery, resulted in a blaze in a bin lorry.

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The incident in Hinstock occurred just before 1.30pm, and two fire engines attended the scene.

The fire service said the waste in the back the lorry was emptied to allow fire crews to extinguish the blaze using a dry powder extinguisher and a hose reel jet.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “A waste collection lorry was involved in fire caused by a lithium battery.

“Waste was emptied onto a car park area, which crews then extinguished using a dry powder extinguisher and one hose reel jet. A thermal imaging camera was then used to check for remaining hot spots.”

The blaze comes after a Shrewsbury recycling centre launched an investigation earlier this month after a fire, also thought to have ben caused by a lithium battery.

Six fire crews crews attended Veolia’s Battlefield site on Wednesday, October 14 to attend to the blaze.

A spokesman for Veolia said at the time investigations were taking place to identify the cause of the fire, but that “initial evidence” pointed towards a lithium battery which had been put in the wrong bin.