Scenes of horror as fire caused by vape tears through machinery at Birmingham waste depot

Fire engulfs machinery at waste depot putting lives at risk

This is the terrifying moment lives were put at risk after a discarded vape sparked a fire. Waste items were being sorted and separated in a depot when an ion battery ignited and a blaze ripped through machinery within seconds.

An irresponsibly discarded vape, which contains the battery, was thought to have caused the fire. The video was released by Birmingham City Council to show people the dangers of throwing vapes in the bin instead of taking them back to where they were bought or to a recycling centre.

A worker who was present during the incident said: "It was a normal day working in the Materials Recovery Facility where we sort and separate household recycling. "The fire went up out of nowhere. The fire was probably caused from the battery of a small item such as a vape."

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According to the Veolia website when vapes are crushed, the lithium-ion batteries inside them become extremely flammable. "This causes problems in collection vehicles as recycling or waste is crushed in the back of the vehicle to make space.

"If a fire breaks out in the back of the vehicle, both the collection crew and the general public are put in danger until the fire is extinguished. It also slows down the collection service and causes traffic on roads.

"You might not realise that vapes also pose a fire risk at Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), the place recycling is taken to be sorted after it’s collected from your house. At MRFs, recycling is sorted before being crushed into bales that are then taken to other facilities to be turned into new materials or products.

"If a vape is mixed in with other recycling it could cause a fire during the baling process. This puts the people working in the MRF in direct danger and also renders the other recyclable material in the bale non-recyclable.

"If you need to dispose of used vapes, stay safe and get rid of them by taking them back to where you bought them."