Firefighters extinguished a fire in a trailer carrying 40 tonnes of construction and household waste on the A41 between Tern Hill and Forton just before midnight on Sunday. The road was closed while crews dealt with the incident.
The trailer had been illegally dumped beside the A41 two weeks before the fire broke out. Firefighters from Telford, Wellington, Newport and Market Drayton attended the incident.
Difficult conditions for firefighters
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said crews had to work in "challenging conditions due to the significant amount of smoke being produced and the potential instability of the trailer".
The trailer was tightly packed with waste from front to back and from floor to roof. Crews had to cut away the side wall to gain better access. Because of the way the waste had been compacted, firefighters had to dig into it to find hotspots, making full extinguishment a prolonged operation.
Investigation underway
A fire investigation into the cause of the blaze is underway. West Mercia Police said it did not appear to be arson.
Telford and Wrekin Council appealed for information about the dumped lorry and said it believed the trailer was first seen travelling west towards Newport on 5 September. The council said the company whose name and logo appear on the trailer, Grocontinental, is not connected to this incident and was eliminated from enquiries.
Abandoned waste trailers have been found on the A41 and A53 previously. Following similar discoveries in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire in 2024, the Environment Agency speculated that such incidents could be related to organised crime, though this has not been confirmed in this case.
