A fire broke out yesterday around 5.30pm at our straw storage site near the A15. This followed reports of suspicious activity in the area. On site were 26,000 bales of

which approximately 50% had been engulfed by the fire which equates to approx. 8000 te. Investigations have begun into the cause of the blaze.

Mike Harrison, Sleaford REP Communications Manager said:

‘This is a very serious incident and the Police are looking into the possibility of criminal involvement. The site is a one of a number of external storage sites we use for our straw and we have emergency measures which are contained in a detailed Project Management Plan for all strategic storage sites.

Initial findings show that the appropriate procedures were enacted in this instance. On arrival, the fire and rescue services concluded that once straw not effected by the fire were removed, the most appropriate action was to simply control the burn and limit damage to persons in attendance. Fires breaks are in place and preservation of remaining stock was taken care of by transporting it to the Plant.

The site itself has a gate and shrub fencing to the side of the A15 but is open to the rear of the site, which leads directly to the Greylees estate. Our storage sites are a key part of our operations we are reviewing our security measures and are currently in the process of looking additional security options to monitor all strategic sites, inclusive of differing options including CCTV.

I wish to reassure the public we are doing all we can to ensure this doesn't happen again and are working closely with the emergency services to control the incident and learn any lessons which are concluded.

The plant remains fully operational, and has not suffered any interruption. More importantly though is that no one has been injured.’