It should have been a normal morning's waste-collection run in a residential part of Harrogate. But as the crew of one of the borough council's refuse collection vehicles (RCVs) followed their route, they noticed smoke billowing out of the back. The RCV was on fire - and the vehicle was packed with mixed dry recyclable material. The crew called 999 and then, helped by a resident with a garden hose, tried to damp down the blaze. When the fire service arrived, the RCV was escorted back to a nearby depot. The cause of the fire was a laptop battery that had been tipped into the truck along with plastic packaging and cans. It is one of several such incidents recorded last year involving carelessly discarded batteries and other electrical equipment. A few months later, in Bridlington, an RCV caught fire after its crew upended the contents of two green wheelie bins into it. A power bank - a portable battery used to charge electronic devices - had been dumped inside one of the bins and burst into flames. One of the crew members said on the council's website: 'The fire could have been a lot worse. People might not understand the dangers of putting batteries in their bins, but they are a real fire risk.'
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