Firefighters work through the night tackling Sunderland blaze

Crews were called to the Alex Smiles Ltd waste management plant in Deptford Terrace at 5.30pm on Saturday evening.

They were on site right through the night to keep a huge pile of smouldering rubbish in one of the warehouses under control and they are still there today.

At the height of the fire up to 20 firefighters at a time were on site, with four fire engines from three different stations across the city and an aerial platform.

20 firefighters tackle city centre building blazeAlthough the initial fire was quickly brought under control firefighters had to remain on the scene.

Station manager Adrian Jackson, of fire headquarters in Washington, said: "It is a huge pile of construction waste and the fire was very deep seated inside it.

"If you can imagine a house being demolished and the pile of rubble left, that is what it was like."

The fire officer said there was a lot of combustible material, such as wood, to the crews remained on site to ensure it was kept damp and not re-ignite.

He said: "There was a lot of smoke because it was so damp.

"There was no danger to anyone, or the properties in the nearby area."

Today machinery will be brought on site to remove the pile of rubbish from the warehouse.

Station manager Adrian Jackson said an investigation would be carried out to establish the cause of the fire.