Big fire at Dutch HKS Scrap Metals ‘under control’

The Netherlands – A mass of black smoke clouded the Amsterdam harbour skyline yesterday afternoon, when a big fire broke out at the site of HKS Scrap Metals while there was no one present on location.

Fire fighters arriving at the scene had difficulty to master the flames in the warehouse and relied on specialised ‘cobra cutter’ equipment, which allowed them to extinguish the heart of the fire through the walls. The crew expects it will need several days to clean up all the rubble.

‘The situation is now under control,’ authorities have stated. There were no victims, and the cause of the fire has yet to be confirmed. Fire brigade officials speculate that the sunny weather might have exacerbated a ‘brooding friction’ reaction in the metal scrap.

In 2012, another HKS site elsewhere in the country suffered another big fire when a car shredder machine overheated.

HKS Scrap Metals is the largest metal recycling company in the Netherlands, processing a million tonnes of iron, metal and electronics each year. It uses hi-tech separation methods like near infrared (NIR) and X-ray technologies as well as CAT scans and colour sorting to ensure ‘highly effective processing’.