When the engineers who designed the Tynes Bay Incinerator designed the plant in the 1980s and added room for ?an extra stream?, they cannot have imagined that the fire would have actually taken place outside the plant, potentially putting the building itself and neighbouring houses at risk.

But that?s exactly what happened on Christmas night when a vast build-up of trash caught on fire. The firefighters and other emergency services deserve credit for containing and extinguishing the blaze and once again proved their worth.

Last night Government said the trash was allowed to build up because some of the equipment in the plant was broken down and the rest was receiving routine maintenance.

This is not good enough. Aside from the thousands of dollars in firefighters? overtime and trucking fees that will have been spent putting the blaze out and cleaning up the mess, there was a very real chance that severe damage to the building and the surrounding homes could have been done, not to mention the lives that were put at risk.

While the Government has denied that neither the plant nor the surrounding neighbourhood was in any danger, this does not bear scrutiny. The fact that it did not happen does not mean it could not have happened. As it was householders were and are inconvenienced as a result. They deserve better.