Fire tears through Salvation Army property in Swindon

A Salvation Army building in Gorse Hill suffered fire damage and part of it will be out of use for the foreseeable future following a blaze on Saturday evening.

It took over 40 firefighters most of the night to get the fire under control.

The fire may have originated from rubbish bins outside the property.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service described how the fire spread to a community room roof. He said:

“When crews arrived they were confronted by a serious fire. Conditions were very dangerous for firefighters initially.

“It remained hazardous for fire crews throughout the incident but they managed to prevent the fire from spreading into other parts of the building.

“This was a very challenging incident which required a lot of our resources to deal with safely.

“Fire crews were on site throughout the night and will complete their operations Sunday morning.”

There will be no services planned for this Sunday, according to Salvation Army Major Fred Thompson as he admitted:

“There’s a lot of water damage to the hall and the fire investigation officers needs to come in.

“It will mean this week our activities, especially for community groups, won’t be happening.

“Until I see the damage later this morning I won’t know how long it will have to be out of commission.”