Smurfit Kappa expects no material impact on UK mill following fire

Smurfit Kappa, a Dublin-based paper packaging producer, says its SSK paper mill in Birmingham, England, has resumed operations after a large fire broke out Monday in an adjacent premises and reached the mill's recovered fiber yard due to high winds.

According to a report from the local West Midlands Fire Service, the department was called to the scene after "a large amount of paper and cardboard bales" caught fire at the warehouse. The fire service says at the height of the incident, more than 30 fire appliances were in use, including two aerial hydraulic platforms, multiple fire engines, a high-volume water pumping unit and a drone.

Local reports from Birmingham also say the fire was declared a major incident after 8,000 metric tons of compressed cardboard caught fire.

Smurfit Kappa thanked the West Midlands Fire Service and its own SSK team for its response to the blaze, saying the mill itself is unaffected and it does not expect any material impact on production.

The Birmingham facility, which produces 500 to 700 metric tons of packaging paper per day, is one of two Smurfit Kappa paper mills in the United Kingdom.