The message of thanks to the public from firefighters who battled Earlestown inferno

But the numbers also underline the scale of the inferno. In all, it took more than 80 firefighters and 20 engines to battle against the flames.

A giant smoke cloud was visible as far away as Staffordshire after the fire took hold at plastics recycling firm Venture Polymers in the Sankey Valley industrial estate, Earlestown.

Flames broke out at the firm shortly after 11am on Wednesday, May 20 and it took crews more than 10 hours to extinguish the main blaze.

A police officer stands guard at a road as the fire rages behind him S Arnold Photography

At its height 87 firefighters – supported by other specialist staff – tackled the fire, which was declared a “major incident”.

Twenty fire crews, from Mersyeside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, worked together.

In total, as they dealt with “hot spotting” and the clear up the fire service were present at the scene for 26 hours.

Messages of praise poured in for those fire crews – but the service has been quick to return the compliment to those volunteers who arrived at the scene to help them on a scorching day.

An aerial platform is used to tackle the flames

Reflecting on the blaze, station manager Lauren Woodward, of Merseyside fire and Rescue Service, said: “It was an unusually large incident and out of the norm.

“But we prepare for incidents like this through training exercises, so we all knew how best to tackle the fire and work with partners such as police and United Utilities to do that safely.

“The site had a significant amount of plastic which was a concern for us as the smoke it caused is not only potentially toxic for the environment but is a concern for communities which is why we asked the local authority and our other partners to put out safety warnings as a precaution to urge people to stay indoors.”

The blaze broke out on one of the hottest days of the year and firefighters endured intense heat.

Volunteers arrived nearby to provide supplies of water and Station Officer Woodward admitted the public support was heartening.

She added: “It’s always nice when we get appreciation from the public.

“It was a difficult case of access and it being geographically enclosed. There was the fact it had a fly over [road] and the fact that so many firefighters were in full gear on what could potentially be the hottest day of the year fighting a huge fire of that nature.

Dave Gillespie's pic of a police helicopter (right) shows the scale of the giant smoke cloud

Major incident: Police and fire crews at the scene

“But our crews worked together to work tirelessly to help put out the fire and assist each other to maintain wellbeing and make sure everyone took enough breaks.

“The community support we received from residents and public was also much appreciated, as was opening places so we could use facilities.

“In these times, especially, it is very important and appreciated that we had such a lovely response from the public.

“We had more than 80 concerned calls from the public which was dealt with by our call centre, so it really was a huge team effort – and their positive messages really do mean a lot to us all.”