Landfill site workers 'climbed locked gate to escape blaze'

Staff at a Fife landfill site had to climb a locked gate to escape a major blaze, a union has claimed.

The fire broke out at the Ladybank facility on Tuesday afternoon and is still burning three days later.

The Unite union described the incident as "bizarre and concerning."

Site operator Cireco Scotland said the claim was "speculation" and said a full investigation into the blaze would be carried out.

About 30 firefighters, four fire appliances and a height appliance remain at the scene.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said it expected to remain at the scene for the next two to three days.

Unite regional officer Bob McGregor said: "I've spoken to one of the people that it happened to and they were told to exit in a certain way.

"When they got there, the gate was locked with a combination lock so they had to scale the gate to get out.

"There was a lot of smoke so they didn't want to go back, because that was their escape route.

"I'm very concerned that people were being sent to an exit to flee a fire and they can't exit that escape route.

"It's bizarre and concerning."

McGregor said union members were regularly raising health and safety concerns about landfill sites and "Ladybank in particular."

He said: "People were worried about collapse of the rubbish on top of them because they were stacked so high.

"It's an unacceptable situation where people haven't got a safe exit from a site when it catches fire and they're in danger."

Asked about the locked gate, Robin Baird, Cireco Scotland CEO said: "Up until we do the full investigation, everything is just speculation.

"We will review all aspects of that, but I would remain confident that all staff were directed to the safe escape routes.

"Whether that was necessarily followed in the full regard I cannot comment until the full investigation."

Baird said that while operations were being impacted, his primary concern was "getting the site back to where we need it to be" and making sure the fire was extinguished.

He said: "We will continue as we always have done to liaise with our union colleagues to ensure the primary focus is always on safety."

Des Donnelly, SFRS group commander, said the conditions of the blaze were challenging.

He said: "The fire itself is really deep-seated and we are struggling to get out to the heart of the fire, where it's quite a fair few metres deep.

"We've significantly made progress and put most of the fire out. We're currently dealing with pockets of fire and smouldering elements within the waste."

Donnelly said it was "too early" to speculate on the cause of the fire.

He said: "We have got a site here which is a waste site with around 200 by 300 metres of mixed waste.

"While that's not all involved in the fire, the wind and the conditions are certainly spreading the fire."