Firefighters were this morning still at the scene of a blaze which caused devastation last night when it ripped through the pallets.

North Wales Fire and Rescue service were alerted just after 8.30pm after pallets at Rhosddu Pallets on the Rhosddu Industrial Estate near Wrexham caught fire.

An investigation was due to be launched some time this morning, with a fire investigation officer due to visit the site in a bid to ascertain the cause of the major fire.

The blaze saw three crews and engines, the ariel ladder platform and the environmental protection unit from Wrexham were called out, as well as pumps from Chirk, Johnstown and Buckley and the Incident Control Unit from Colwyn Bay.

Crews were working hard to provide water curtains in a bid to prevent neighbouring properties catching fire because the pallets were blazing between them and they used a ground monitor, three main jets and a hose reel to tackle the fire.

To protect the public, a part of the A483 bypass was closed off.
Early this morning a crew from Deeside were on stand by at the scene, monitoring the situation until an assessment was due to take place at 8am.

The dramatic photographs on the front page of the Evening Leader today were taken by Andy Jones of Bluebell Estate in Pandy. One of the pictures was taken from his home and then Andy, his brother Colin, an off-duty fireman, and son Sam took a walk and got closer to the blaze by standing on the closed off bypass.

"It was pretty big," said Andy.

"The fire crews were just arriving and the police had shut the road off so we managed to get quite close to get photos before they kicked us off. The fire was right next to the dual carriageway.

"As far as we know the buildings didn't go up, it just looks like it because the pallets were burning in between.

"It was the biggest fire I've ever seen. There were a lot of people out watching.

"My brother is a fireman so we had a bit of insight as to what was going on, but people living in the houses opposite would have been worried. The flames were well over 50 feet up in the air."

The inferno could be seen for miles with one resident in Gwersyllt saying they had a clear view of the blaze from their front garden.
She said: "We just couldn't believe the scale. You could see if for miles."