Around 200 British firefighters were on Monday trying to douse a blaze at a recycling plant near the city of Birmingham believed to have been caused by a Chinese lantern. The flames at the Jayplas recycling facility in Smethwick threw up a column of smoke 1,830 metres into the sky, according to a Fire Service spokesman. Around 100,000 tonnes of plastic were affected by the fire, which the spokesman said was one of the largest they had ever dealt with in the region, DPA reported.
