THE director of a recycling centre where a "catastrophic fire" burned for weeks has been jailed for 10 months.
Father-of-four Luke Barker, boss of Arcwood Recycling Ltd, was also banned from being a company director for eight years by Judge Jonathan Gosling at a hearing in Derby this morning.
Barker, of the former recycling centre in Lows Lane, Stanton by Dale, had already pleaded guilty at Derby Crown Court to four safety failures which put people "at risk of death or serious injury" in the case of a fire.
He also admitted allowing fire-fighting run-off water to flow into the Erewash canal, without an environmental permit.
The blaze, which started on September 15, 2012, and was attended by fire crews continuously for nine days, cost Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service £107,000.
The Environment Agency paid out £200,000 in minimising the blaze's impact on local wildlife.
The court was told how thousands of fish were killed and 7,000lb of fish were moved for protection. About 6km of the canal was damaged."
The fire broke out in a pile of 8,000 tonnes of wood stored at the plant.
It was finally extinguished in late October as burning embers were buried on an adjacent site which is covered with a layer of foundry slag and sand.
Judge Gosling said: "The consequence of the fire was that millions of gallons of water had to be deployed by the fire service which ran off into the canal.
"A six-kilometre stretch of that canal was affected and almost 450lbs of fish were killed.
"An agency had to be employed at a cost of £7,000 to move the fish that survived and the Environment Agency estimate their costs to be in excess of £200,000."
In court, Barker admitted he had "failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk" to which people were exposed at the site in the case of fire.
He also admitted failing to take general fire precautions to ensure the safety of his employees and people visiting the site.
Arcwood Recycling Ltd, who Barker, of Bulwell, Nottingham is the sole director of were also ordered to pay £15,000 costs and were issued with a £40,000 fine.
