One scrapyard, two fires and a long list of environmental infringements

A Marsa scrapyard that caught fire on Friday was engulfed in a similar, massive raging fire four years ago and had previously been warned about a long list of environmental infringements.

The site on Marsa's Triq Giuseppe Garibaldi caught fire at around 10am on Friday, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and across the surrounding areas, forcing residents to shut doors and windows and workers in the area to pack up and go home for the day.

MCAST cancelled lectures, the airport suspended light aircraft flights and the nearby Addolorata Cemetery was shut down on police orders.

Smoke emitting from the fire appeared visible from space, appearing on satellite imagery.

Sources close to the investigation told Times of Malta that Friday's fire is difficult to control because a lot of different, flammable materials appear to have been stored together.

The CPD is "overwhelmed. People have been called in from their off days, all firefighters have been deployed," a source said.

"A fire of this size is an indication that flammable materials were not stored properly. Metal is not flammable, while tyres are. Batteries are the worst," the source explained. 

One of the firefighters' biggest fears about the Friday fire is that the flames could spread to a nearby warehouse storing massive amounts of highly flammable animal feed. 

ERA permit renewed in 2023

The scrapyard's environmental permit was renewed in 2023 by the regulator, ERA. That four-year permit provides specific guidance on the storing of waste in designated areas, with specific provisions for the storing of batteries, oils, EVs and other such dangerous waste.   

The permit (EP 0025/22) also bound the operator to implement various "fire safety measures" by a predetermined date. The measures and deadline are not stated in the public permit document.  

The scrapyard's 2023 ERA permit required it to implement 'fire safety measures'.

Times of Malta asked ERA whether its inspectors carried out any spot checks of the scrapyard, if fire safety measures were completed within the stipulated time period and what its investigation into a similar 2021 fire at the site had recommended.

It said was one of a number of regulators monitoring the site. 

"While ERA’s remit is strictly environmental, ERA had nonetheless required the operator to engage a fire consultant as an additional precaution before the permit could be renewed back in 2023," it said. 

Echoes of a 2021 disaster

The incident echoes another similar one just over four years ago, when a huge fire swept across the same scrapyard, JAC Steel Ltd, in the dead of night in September 2021.

That fire was later dubbed "the largest industrial fire in years".

The location of the fire, circled, which is near an animal feed storage facility. Photo: Google Maps

The 2021 fire started at around midnight but was so massive that it was still producing a thick column of smoke by 8am that could be seen for miles, and people in Valletta and Sliema woke up to the smell of burning rubber.

It took 29 firefighters, 11 firefighting vehicles and 320,000 litres of water to battle the flames, and by noon the next day, the Civil Protection Department had said it would take several more hours to entirely extinguish the flames. 

The fire in 2021 took hours took more than 11 fire appliances and many hours to put out. Photo: CPD

The then-director of the CPD, Emmanuel Psaila, had later described the fire as “almost impossible to control” amid the dangerous fumes swirling around the firefighters.

Long list of infringements

Nobody was injured in that fire but a Times of Malta investigation had later found that the scrapyard had received warnings about a long list of environmental infringements believed to be the likely cause of the blaze.

A series of ‘stop and compliance’ orders were issued against the owner, Conrad Baldacchino, by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) over the previous five years.

They included warnings about the late cleaning of oil spills and incorrect storage of heaps of flammable materials that at times even stretched beyond the confines of the site.

The scrapyard was also in breach of several fire safety rules. Waste was not being properly treated and spills of liquid waste, mostly oils, were not being cleaned immediately.

Plumes of smoke from the fire on Thursday were seen miles away. Photo: Jonathan Borg

End-of-life vehicles, sent to the yard to be scrapped, were found not to be treated in line with the approved methodology. Electronic waste was not being processed in the correct part of the site, or according to the right procedures, and a large shredder was being used without a permit, among other things.

The ERA had also warned that the 49-ton maximum limit of hazardous waste that the site was allowed to store was being regu­larly ignored.

"Firefighters were furious back then, because they found that nothing was being done correctly. Hazardous materials were all being stored together. Firefighters would see one thing on the surface, and then find other materials deeper into the pile," a source with knowledge of the 2021 fire told Times of Malta.

Two months after that fire, the government agency that manages industrial parks - Indis Malta Limited, filed a garnishee order for €500,000 against the operator, seeking to recoup rent arrears, compensation for damage to the industrial area caused by the fire, and the cost of removing all material from the site, including tonnes of burnt scrap.

According to its financial returns for 2023 – the most recent on record – the company employed 16 people that year. 

It reported equity of just over €995,000 but used an exemption available for small companies to remove its income statement from its public filings, effectively hiding its revenue, profit, expenses and salaries paid from public view.