A major fire at a recycling centre in Co Meath has been brought under control.
The fire broke out at Thornton's Civic Amenity Facility in Dunboyne Industrial Estate last night.
Smoke could be seen billowing from the recycling centre this morning and could be smelt on approach to the town.
Several units of the Meath County Council Fire and Rescue Service worked through the night to bring the blaze under control after the alarm was raised shortly after 10pm.
Crews from Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin and Navan attended the scene while Ashbourne and Navan had specialist water tankers in attendance.
The fire was contained to the area of the site where materials that are due to be recycled are stored.
An office block on the site was not affected and the fire was prevented from spreading to other units in the business park.
Thornton's Recycling crews are working to move piles of smouldering timber this morning and have their own water tankers on site.
The damage from the fire is still being assessed by the company. However, no injuries or fatalities have been reported.
It remains unclear as to what caused the fire to break out. The centre was closed at the time and no personnel were on site.
However, gardaí have said that foul play is not suspected.
In a statement, a garda spokesperson said: "Shortly after 10pm on Thursday, 16 April 2025, gardaí were alerted to a fire at an industrial unit in Dunboyne, Co Meath.
"No injuries were reported and foul play is not suspected at this time."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Meath County Council said that "in addition to traditional firefighting methods, the deployed crews used a digger to take a large number of materials out of the premises to be broken down to help quell the spread of the fire."
The fire crews left the scene shortly before 7am, when the fire was extinguished, the council said.
One of the country's largest waste management firms, Thornton's Recycling also suffered a serious fire at its Killeen Road facility in Ballyfermot in 2021.
Separately, Cork County Council is advising the public to stay away from an area around a recycling facility at Knockgriffin in Midleton, after an overnight fire there.
