Fire at Smurfit Kappa Paper Not Feared to Impact Production

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The fire incident at Smurfit Kappa Birmingham paper mill is unlikely to have material impact on production from the facility. The large fire had spread from adjacent premises. The company press release stated that the central England paper mill was largely unaffected by the fire.

The Midland Fire Services was alerted about the fire at around 1840 GMT on Sunday. More than 100 firefighters battled out to contain the blaze. There were no reports of casualties. The fire is believed to have broken out in an adjacent premise and was carried by high winds to the Smurfit Kappa mill’s recovered fibre yard. It set nearly 8,000 tonnes of compressed cardboard on fire.

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The team used more than 30 fire appliances, including two aerial hydraulic platforms, multiple fire engines, a high volume water pumping unit, and a drone.

The fire investigators have reportedly started working on establishing the cause of the fire. The firefighters were present in the site for additional 48 hours just to ensure that there were no further breakouts of fire.

Apart from Birmingham plant, Smurfit Kappa also operates another paper mill in the UK. The Birmingham mill produces around 500-700 tonnes of packaging paper every day, which are later used in the manufacture of cardboard boxes.