At the height of the blaze, 75 firefighters were involved in the operation at the recycling yard on Riverpark Road, Newton Heath.

It involved thousands of disused fridges and sent plumes of dense black smoke into the sky.

But it was not thought necessary to evacuate any nearby residents - although they were advised to keep windows and doors closed.

The fire has been brought under control, although damping down operations are likely to continue for the rest of the day.