Fire destroys warehouse as owner watches Wembley match
A company has been destroyed in a fire while the owner watched a football match at Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening.
John Charles, who owns AquAid UK in Cambridge received a call from an employee to say that the building was going up in flames.
By the time Mr Charles made it back to the company based in an industrial unit at Dales Manor Business Park, 8 fire crews were at the scene trying to control the flames. It took firefighters around 7 hours to extinguish the blaze.
No one was injured in the fire. Neighbours were told to keep windows and doors shut and to stay indoors if possible.
Mr Charles said: “The unit has been totally gutted by the fire. It’s when you walk inside it that you realise it’s been burned to cinders. The warehouse is our distribution centre and thankfully, there was nobody inside at the time. I was watching the game at Wembley when one of my employees who lives nearby called me to say he could see black smoke billowing from the warehouse. It was a horrible feeling and I couldn’t believe it when I saw the scale of the damage. The fire also spread next door, although it looks like it will be OK.”
Mr Charles remains determined that business will carry on as usual and has found a temporary warehouse from which he can run the business.
An investigation will be carried out to determine the cause of the fire.
Fireman dies in airport explosion
A fireman has died in an explosion at Cotswold Airport.
45 year old Steve Mills who was the fire services manager at the Kemble airport, died following a cylinder explosion at the airfield at 12.45pm on Friday 15th April.
Mr Mills had been a firefighter at Malmesbury for 10 years before becoming fire services manager at the airport.
Chief fire officer at Wiltshire fire and rescue service said: “Steve was a dedicated and popular member of the team at Malmesbury. We were able to draw on his knowledge, contacts and expertise, which in turn strengthened our ability to serve our local communities, and we recognise and are grateful for the contribution he made. Steve will be greatly missed by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him. All of the crew at Malmesbury are devastated by the loss of a friend and colleague, and the service is giving them as much support as possible at this difficult time.”
The incident was attended by crews from Cirencester and Tetbury fire stations.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are investigating the incident but it is not currently being treated as suspicious.
Eldery woman suffers burns in flat fire
An elderly woman is being treated in hospital for smoke inhalation and minor burns after being rescued from a fire at her flat in Stanley yesterday morning.
The woman’s sons escaped from the fire and were also taken to hospital.
The fire started at around 4.00 am in the ground floor flat at Stag Court in Stanley Park Road.
Eamon Slevin, Acting Blue Watch manager reported that it was only because of the speed with which firefighters were able to arrive on the scene and the quick reactions of the fire crews involved that the fire was not more serious.
An investigation into the cause of the fire will be carried out by London Fire Brigade.