Hundreds of fish die after foam pollutes Oldham river

Hundreds of fish have been found dead after a fire at an industrial unit caused masses of foam to run into a nearby river.

The fish were found in the River Tame following the blaze off Wellington Road in Greenfield, on Sunday, The Environment Agency said.

The foam was described by the agency as "firewater run off", which is left-over from the foam firefighters used to tackle the fire.

A spokesperson said: "Although containment measures were taken, some firewater run-off entered the river. Officers recorded several hundred dead fish in the affected area, however this morning they found no additional fish fatalities."

The spokesperson continued: "Surface foam remains visible. However, it appears to be dispersing downstream.

"We will continue to monitor the situation and assess any ongoing environmental impacts."

Craig Hannah, 57, lives close by and witnessed the blaze- which began just after 07:30 BST on Sunday.

"It was quite frightening. I live around 70 metres away from it. Luckily we were downwind," he said.

"It was just the road closures, the proximity to other people's houses that was quite worrying."

Residents have since returned to their homes, but Craig said there was alarm at the state of the river.

"I went for a walk earlier as I often do and was downstream from where the fire had happened and you couldn't help but notice the amount of foam on the surface of the river," he said.

"It was probably about four metres high in the worst affected areas.

Craig said he could see the foam was breaking down.

"It was slowly fragmenting away a bit like icebergs in the Antarctic," he said.

"Sections would break off and then float down and catch up again."

"It makes me feel sad," the former countryside warden continued.

"When I first started working a few miles downstream from Greenfield in 1988, you were very unlikely to see fish in the river," he said.

"But fish live in the river all the way down to Stockport now.

"The wildlife's come back and it's quite a dynamic ecosystem.

"I just really hope that this incident hasn't had a major impact on what is now in the river."

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