Sheffield fire: Devastated Skip Hire owner ‘works through night’ with firefighters to tackle blaze

Firefighters were called to the blaze at Arthur’s Skip Hire & Waste Management on Parkwood Road, Neepsend, at 9.50pm last night, Thursday, May 28, and two fire engines remained at the scene this morning.

A worker at the company this morning said the firm had ‘never been busier’ than during lockdown and staff were ‘gutted’ by what had happened.

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“The fire’s been dampened down and they’ve got it under control but it will smoulder for days, I would think,” he said.

“It’s just the waste that’s burning. I don’t think any vehicles were damaged and it didn’t spread to the trees nearby.

“Everybody’s gutted. It’s a local, family-run operation, with about 40-50 people working here, which the owner’s spent his life building up.

“He’s been working throughout the night with the firefighters to contain the fire, get it under control and extinguish it.

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“It couldn’t have happened at a worse time because we’ve never been busier.”

The company, which was founded in 1994 by Arthur Hartley and his son, James, has assured people that everyone is ‘safe and well’ and said it is open for business today and hopes to be delivering and collecting skips as usual.

Around 30 firefighters were battling the blaze at its peak, and South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue said two fire engines remained at the scene this morning.

This video of the fire was shared by @pso_kt via Twitter.