Fires at Rattlechain Mere/tip Tividale West Midlands

West Midlands Fire Service did not have the information requested.

Dear West Midlands Fire Service,

I am seeking information as to how many incidents you have attended at the above chemical waste lagoon historically? If you do not hold records before a certain date could you please advise me of this so that I can be more specific in the timescale of my request?
Can you confirm which of these incidents were thought to be related to oxidising white phosphorus fires(a chemical known to be in the waste stream and shallow sediments in tens of tonnes and which in theory if the water covering it dropped significantly would start to oxidise), and what special measures would the fire service use if a white phosphorus fire occured at the site in terms of tackling it and evacuating nearby residents?

Yours faithfully,

Mr Carroll

Martina Doolan, West Midlands Fire Service

Dear Mr Carroll

Thank you for your request and we shall endeavour to respond to it within 20 days as defined in the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Kind regards,

Martina Doolan
Data Manager
West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service
0121 380 6535
07973 810722

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Rebecca MacDonald, West Midlands Fire Service

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Our ref. EIR/10001

Dear Mr Carroll,

RE: Environmental Information Regulations Request

I am writing to inform you that we have located some information concerning Rattlechain Mere, Tividale. Looking at our system we have been able to locate 2 incidents around the area in the last 15 years. However both incidents were suspected deliberate grass fires and I have found no record of any incidents at the actual pools.

The West Midlands Fire Service has set operational notes for dealing with hazardous materials, please find relevant operational notes attached.
There will be no charge for this set of information.

I hope this provides all the information you require. Should you require further information please contact me at the above address.

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Kind Regards

Beci MacDonald
Data Management
West Midlands Fire Service

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Dear Rebecca MacDonald,

Ref EIR/10001

Thankyou for the information concerning incidents at Rattlechain Mere in the last 15 years. Could I ask if there are records held going back further than 1995 that are held by West Midlands Fire Service and if these can be accessed by yourself, or if this should be addressed as a seperate FoI request?
I know of a documented incident on Sunday 8th October 1989 which did give rise to the attendance of West Midlands Fire Service. In a letter from Albright and Wilson(the then owners), to West Midlands Hazardous Waste Unit the circumstances of the incident are explained "at approximately 10.00 am residents in the area of Temple Way contacted West Midlands Fire Service to report smoke arising from the John's Lane area. The West Midlands Fire Service attended the scene, assisted by the airbourne Police unit who identified the source as being our Rattlechain Landfill site..investigation at the scene indicated that the fire was caused by traces of phosphorus contained in contaminated soil close to the edge of the main lagoon. Our investigations into the incident lead us to believe that the contamination of the soil arose during disposal of 25 drums of effluent sludge which had taken place during the previous week."
Do you hold any record of this incident as the Fire Service saw it?
Can you confirm that if a fire did occur at Rattlechain that you would apply the measures mentioned in your response in light of the known contaminated contents at this site?

Yours sincerely,

Mr Carroll

Rebecca MacDonald, West Midlands Fire Service

I am out of the office until Wednesday 7th April 2010. If you have a Freedom of Information/ Data Protection request please forward to [West Midlands Fire Service request email] Thank you

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Rebecca MacDonald, West Midlands Fire Service

Our Ref. EIR 10001

Dear Mr Carroll,

Further to you're email dated 30th March 2010 requesting information prior
to 1995 and specifically information relating to an incident that occurred
on Sunday 8th October 1989. Unfortunately our incident records do not go
back as far as 1989 and I have therefore been unable to locate any
information about this incident.

I have spoken to our Hazardous Materials Officer who has said that he has
no knowledge of the incident either as he was not in his current post in
1989, but that our response to any incident at this location would be
dependent on the initial assessment from the Officer in Charge at the
incident in conjunction with information held by our Operations
Intelligence department, The Environmental Health Agency and the owner of
the site. I have also passed the information that you have provided onto
our Operations Intelligence team for them to decide if a Site Risk Survey
should be carried out on the site to gain further information.

I hope this provides some clarification for you and apologise for being
unable to provide all of the information requested.

Should you have any future requests, please do not hesitate to contact
either me or the Data Manager.

Kind Regards

Beci MacDonald

Data Management

West Midlands Fire Service

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Dear Rebecca MacDonald,

Thankyou for your response relating to Fires on Rattlechain Mere. I do think a site risk survey would be appropriate given the nature of the hazardous material contained in the lagoon, and hope you would also note that last year, the fire service had difficulty gaining access to the site on 25/5/09 when several plastic barrels that had recently been removed from the contaminated sediment had been left out to dry in the hot weather.
The fire was blamed as a "grass fire" and arson, though it is difficult to see how anyone could have got over a six foot fence topped by razor wire to have started it. The firemen couldn't to put it out!

Yours sincerely,

Mr Carroll