ENGINEERS are battling against the clock to ensure a major fire at a water treatment plant does not result in the return of a stench, with pea season days away.
Drivers reported seeing flames and then a plume of billowing, black smoke at the Saltend works yesterday.
Yorkshire Water says an odour-control unit was badly damaged, although a new £3.6m unit, which does the same job, was not affected.
Now, efforts are being made to ensure the new unit is capable of dealing with extra waste generated by pea production, which has caused a stench in the area in the past.
Councillor Mike Bryan, who is liaising between East Riding Council and Yorkshire Water, said: "We know one odour control unit, the older one, was knocked out in the fire.
"I am assured by Yorkshire Water that they are working very hard to ensure all waste can be put through the new unit in time for the pea season, which is due to start on Friday, June 28."
Cllr Bryan, who is expecting daily updates from the utility company, said complaints about the smell generated by pea processing had diminished in recent months.
He said: "There has been the odd smell, but nothing on the scale of what residents had to put up with previously, which was absolutely horrendous.
"Yorkshire Water is keeping me updated and I have already had several phone calls.
"Hopefully, they can solve the problem quickly."
It is thought the fire started at about 7am.
Commuters using Hedon Road reported black smoke, with one witness saying at the time: "I was driving to work when I just saw all this billowing black smoke.
"The firemen were covering the flames with jets of water and it all looked under control."
Former Hull KR player Nick Pinkney, who now works for P&D Engineers in Tower House Lane, Saltend, described seeing flames shoot out of a large chimney, now known to be a water-filtering tower.
He said: "It must have been about 8am when I saw what looked like a giant firework.
"Flames were coming from the top of a chimney. It was spectacular.
"Then, the chimney toppled over. There was a lot of smoke, but the fire service seemed to deal with it pretty quickly."
Yorkshire Water spokesman Matt Thompson said: "We can confirm that the smaller of our two odour control units has been damaged beyond repair.
"We are working hard to understand what impact, if any, this will have on our ability to control odours from the site and exploring what options are available to us, should we need to draw on additional resources.
"The new, and much larger, £3.5m odour control unit, which was recently commissioned, continues to operate as normal. The treatment process has been unaffected by the fire.
"We are working with the fire service to establish the cause of the blaze, which is unknown at this stage, and would like to thank them for all their efforts this morning."
The site, which opened in 2000, processes 170 million litres of human and industrial waste a day.
A Humberside Fire and Rescue Service spokesman confirmed six engines attended the blaze.
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