Monday 11.30am: Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue now says 1,000 tonnes of scrap was destroyed in Sunday’s fire at BW Riddle in Bourne.
The cause of the fire remains unknown at this stage.
• Sunday 6pm: Firefighters are at the scene of a major blaze in Bourne today (Sunday) after nearly 300 tonnes of scrap caught fire.
Firefighters were called to BW Riddle in South Fen Road at 10.45am after a pile of recycling material set alight.
Crews from Bourne, Market Deeping, Billingborough, Stamford, Corby Glen and Holbeach were called to the scene, and staff from the recycling plant used cranes to keep the blaze under control.
It is the second time in three months there has been a fire at the site.
Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles around, and firefighters had to make regular trips from the scene to top up their engines with water.
Group manager John Sharp, from Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, said the cause of the fire had not been established.
He said: “The pile of metal, rubber and plastic is 20 meters by 10 meters, and eight meters high. It looks like there are about 300 tonnes of material in the pile.
“At the moment the priority is breaking down the piles into more manageable piles.
“There is a lot of smoke, but it is not toxic. It is mainly steam coming from the water we are using to put the flames out.
“We have not been able to establish a cause yet, and we will be carrying out an investigation later this afternoon.”
The last fire at the site happened in September, when 800 tonnes of recycling material caught fire.
Mr Sharp said: “The material in the piles comes from appliances like washing machines, so it is difficult to find the cause.
“At the last major fire the material was piled to high, and the owner has been working to reduce the size of those piles since then.
“There are a number of similar fires like this across the country, and we work with other forces to understand what causes them.”
In September, more than 800 tonnes of scrap metal and plastic went up in flames, sparked by friction from an unknown item on a conveyor belt. It carried on smoking for more than three weeks.