FIRE crews took nearly 12-hours to fight a large fire broke out at a scrapyard in Marsh Barton at around 8.30pm on Thursday (November 14).

Five Engines from Exeter (Danes Castle and Middlemoor), Torquay and Exmouth fought the flames.

They also urged residents in the area keep windows closed and stay away from the area. 

At around twenty-past 12 this morning (Friday November 15) crews said they were making 'steady progress' extinguishing the fire and preventing it from spreading to further areas within the site. 

Crews have used two Ground Monitors and the Aerial ladder platform to extinguish the fire, Crews also used one Foam Branch to assist. 

On-site personnel are assisting our crews in extinguishing the fire by using a Debris Handling machine to move the pile to allow crews access to deep seated hotspots. 

A three Appliance relief strategy is in place and this incident will be updated again in due course.  

At around 5am on Friday, the fire was out and crews went home. A revisit will be carried out later this morning for an inspection.

A total of one hose reel jet, two main jets, two ground monitors, one compressed air foam branch and one aerial ladder platform used as a water tower

The cause is believed to be accidental. From a battery which had been crushed and ignited at the scrapyard.