Fire destroys Northwards trailer

Fire-fighters from Lerwick deal with the lorry fire at Scottish Sea Farms' Scalloway site on Wednesday morning. Photo: Andrew Gibson

Fire took hold of a Northwards trailer half filled with salmon outside the Scottish Seafarms premises in Scalloway this morning.

Police and fire services attended the scene at Blacksness Pier following the call shortly before 8am.
Staff at Scottish Seafarms were evacuated after the fire started at the front end of the refrigerated trailer. Thick palls of smoke could be seen rising above Scalloway’s harbour area.

The trailer was said to be half full of salmon contained in polystyrene boxes which risked making the fire worse.

Two fire appliances attended the scene from Lerwick. No-one was injured as a result of the incident, which is not believed to have be suspicious. Police said the blaze appeared to have been started by an electrical fault. Northwards were quickly informed of the fire.

Scottish Seafarms spokeswoman Lynne Crossan told The Shetland Times: “I can confirm that a fire occurred on a Northwards lorry. An investigation is under way to investigate the exact cause.

“No-one was hurt in the incident and the vehicle and its cargo were fully insured. All safety procedures were implemented and the employees of Scottish Seafarms were evacuated from the building for a short time while the incident was dealt with.”