World’s biggest tyre dump
According to the UK’s Daily Mail the world’s largest tyre graveyard is reported to be located in Kuwait with over 7 million tyres dumped in the sandy earth.
The newspaper reports that the expanse of rubber is so vast that the fields are now visible from space.
Longest burning tyre fire
The Heyope tyre dump near Knighton, Powys, would appear to be the longest burning tyre fire in the world. Started in 1989 it continued to burn until at least 2004.
The tyre dump with an estimated total of 10 million tyres lay in a deep wooded valley in the Welsh borders. According to reports they tyres were packed too densely for firefighters to extinguish and there were no flames, but temperature readings confirm the intense heat generated below the surface.
World’s largest tyre fire: Kuwait
In Kuwait in April 2012, a fire broke out at a dump that held more than 5 million tyres. The fire was so big that the smoke plume was visible from space!