At about 7 o’clock on the morning of Saturday 10th October 1998, the number 2 turbine oil-feed pipe fractured at the Ironbridge power station, starting a major fire.
1998
I was awoken by a distant, but loud wailing noise (which sounded suspiciously like an old wartime air-raid siren), and emergency vehicles speeding past my house. Instinct told me that something big was happening, and so I quickly dressed, grabbed my camera, and headed towards the sound of the siren on my trusty bicycle.
As I reached the Free Bridge I was shocked to see the size of the smoke plume, which was clearly emitting from the area of the power station. It was a strangely eerie sight, made more so whilst accompanied by the relentless wailing siren.
As I cycled through Ironbridge town it occurred to me that my knowledge of the area may help me obtain the best shots, so instead of sticking to the road, I headed through Dale End Park onto the riverside path, which I followed until I was opposite the power station, where I was able to grab the following images.
I emerged from the riverside at Buildwas bridge, with the intention of cycling back down the road to Ironbridge. Unfortunately, a rather zealous Policewoman blocked my path and told me that I couldn’t use the roadway because of the smoke risk (the smoke was nowhere near the road) and seemed to take great delight in informing me that I had to cycle up the long & steep Ironbridge bypass in order to get home.
Again, my local knowledge came into play and so after a short ride up the bank I climbed over the fence and joined a small lane that goes from Little Wenlock down to Coalbrookdale. This was fortuitous, as I came across a viewpoint looking directly over the valley at the blazing building, although by now it was starting to look as if it was under control.
The good news was that no-one was seriously hurt in the fire and, contrary to early reports, the power station was repaired and produced power for the National Grid again, before emission targets meant it had to close down in 2015.
The photographs of the fire from 1998 were taken on a Pentax ME Super film camera and the prints converted into digital files using a scanner.
2010
The power station was still dominating the skyline 12 years later:
Present-day
Fast-forward to the present-day and the cooling towers are gone; all that remains is a pink pad in the ground. This is all due to be a giant housing estate.
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