Householders have been urged not to put potentially combustible materials in their black bag waste, following a fire in a landfill compactor skip at Winsel Civic Amenity and Recycling centre on Saturday.

The waste compactor had to be removed from its holdings when smoke was seen billowing out - just 30 minutes before the centre was scheduled to close.

The fire service arrived to help put out the smouldering fire and spent over an hour on site to ensure it was extinguished.

It’s believed hot ashes were the cause.

Site supervisor Nigel Cole said a major fire was only averted because of the quick reactions of the centre’s staff.

“We were lucky this was spotted just before closing time,” he said.

“It could have been much worse had it spread to the carpets and cardboard stored nearby.

“Fortunately the staff on site reacted quickly, removed the compactor away from other potentially flammable material and started to put the fire out before the fire service were able to assist.”

He said it wasn’t the first time a fire had broken out in a skip.

“Sometimes it’s because of hot ashes, but often it’s due to smaller electrical items which people have put in their black bags.

“When these are crushed, the electrical components or the batteries can sometimes ignite and start a fire.”

Nigel added: “We would ask anyone who needs to dispose of small electrical items to use the specific containers available at all civic amenity and recycling centres.

“With ashes, they are permitted on site but they should be extinguished properly and put in the rubble container not the general waste skip.

“If people are unsure where to dispose of items, our staff are always willing to assist.”