A the height of the blaze, 15 appliances from Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales were at the scene where a large warehouse used by Midland Glass Processing, a glass recycling plant on North Road, had caught fire.
After receiving the call at 1.16pm on Friday, February 4, it took firefighters more than three hours to bring the flames under control while workers at the plant helped clear the area of flammable liquids.
Nearby businesses were evacuated and police closed North Road to pedestrians and traffic as the fire crews worked to contain the blaze and prevent a catastrophe.
There were still pockets of fire at 3.30pm as firefighters battled in extremely dangerous conditions.
Smoke could be billowing into the air above the site, which is in three sections and measures about 85m x 35m. Fears that acetylene cylinders inside would catch fire and explode meant they had to be removed from the warehouse by brave staff and firefighters.
A further two 1,000 litre containers of diesel also had to be protected from the flames so firefighters used water jets to keep them at bay.
The Environment Agency attended the site to deal with the run off from the water jets.
North Road was reopened to traffic by 4.40pm.
Fire at Ellesmere Port glass plant theatened to spread to power station
Date: 7 February 2011
Source: Midland Glass Processing
Disaster was averted when a fire at a glass recycling plant threatened to spread to a power station and ignite dangerous chemicals at Ellesmere Port docks.