Fire destroys Hawthorne road units on Sunday morning.
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Surrounding roads remain closed.
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Change of wind direction causes further problems for local residents.
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Sefton Council is assisting fire crews by using a digger to break waste allowing access.
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Smoke spreads across Sefton 24 hours after fire started.
Smoke from a huge fire can be seen in Bootle as firefighters continue to bring the blaze which began at around 4:10am under control.
Crews were alerted at 4.53am and were on scene at 5.02am.
Firefighters arrived to find an industrial unit 100m x 50m well alight.
Local residents spoke of being woken by a huge bang at an industrial unit fire on Hawthorne Rd, Bootle.
Merseyside fire brigade spent over 12 hours tackling the huge fire with Hawthorne road still closed until further notice.
Six fire engines, two using ladder platform assistance were present at the height of the blaze with four still remaining as Merseyside police attended the scene along with Sefton council, contractors from energy suppliers and employees from the plant as they try to figure out the cause of the fire.
A local shop worker said: “It began at around ten past four in the morning, my brother was awake and told me about it just before I left for work.
He had taken photographs and you could see the flames raging out of the roof of the building”.
A spokesperson from Merseyside fire brigade told Enchanted LifePath Tv “It may be a while before fire crews leave the scene of the fire with the number of fire engines attending set to reduce throughout the day from six to four down to the last one”.
The fire took place at the old Spotmix cement factory, which is now used to store household waste.
Firefighters have removed panels from the building to access the source of the fire, which appears to be domestic refuse.
Wind speed and direction at the site has changed, now coming from a South Westerly direction. This has generated a large smoke plume which is heading towards Litherland and Switch Island area.
Hawthorne Road has been closed in both directions between Linacre Lane and Aintree Road and is not expected to re-open until tomorrow morning at the earliest.
Liverpool Air Quality levels remain good despite the fire but have dropped slightly throughout the day.
UPDATE MONDAY 21 AUGUST 1.00pm
Firefighting continues in difficult conditions at the incident site.
The site is still divided into sectors and damping down of the area is taking place from a combined platform ladder.
Further work is planned to break up the remaining debris and access and extinguish remaining seats of fire.
Residents nearby are advised to close windows and doors and stay indoors. Residents with existing health conditions should keep medication nearby and if any ill effects are experienced call NHS 111 or your out of hours GP.
Motorists should avoid the area if possible.
What caused the fire? If you have any information please email Info@EnchantedLifePath.com.
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