FISH in the Erewash Canal have been stunned with electricity to rescue them from water polluted by a major fire at the Stanton Works site.
In the wake of the blaze in Lows Lane, Stanton-by-Dale, which has been burning since Saturday, stretches of the Erewash Canal still have low oxygen levels and dead fish were spotted in the water.
To prevent more fish from dying, the Environment Agency performed a "fish rescue" yesterday.
A spokesman for the agency said: "We used hydrogen peroxide to increase the oxygen levels in large parts of the Erewash Canal.
"This resulted in an increase in our oxygen readings in selected parts of the canal, with levels varying between 70 to 100 per cent, though some parts have oxygen just above three per cent.
"A number of dead fish were observed and our teams are continuing to use hydrogen peroxide to increase the oxygen, which is improving the situation."
The Canal and Rivers Trust has closed the Erewash Canal at the Trent Navigation to prevent any potential discharge into the River Trent.
The spokesman added: "Yesterday, we were looking to save the fish in the canal by carrying out a fish rescue.
"Our teams moved the fish by electro-fishing to a location where oxygen levels were normal.
"We will continue with the oxyjets until the fish are all moved or oxygen levels return to normal."
Electro-fishing is a rescue operation using electric fishing equipment to lightly stun the fish, which can then be caught in a hand net and put into a tank of water with oxygen before being moved to a new location.
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service is now scaling down its operation to put the fire out.
Firefighters have been at the scene since Saturday, with up to eight fire engines and more than 60 firefighters in attendance at the height of the fire on Saturday evening.
Area manager Bryan Bennett told the Post: "We have reached a point with the incident on Lows Lane where we are happy to scale down our operations."
"Fire crews have worked extremely hard in arduous conditions to bring this large and complex fire under control.
"Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service will remain in attendance for the next few days to assist partners in bringing a safe conclusion to the overall incident."
The service said it was still reminding people to "take care" if they were affected by the smoke.
