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.
Washing machine fire kills elderly man
An elderly man is thought to have been killed in a matter of seconds after inhaling cyanide when his washing machine went up in flames last year.
John Russell, 80, who lived in Lower Morden is thought to have died after trying to extinguish a washing machine fire in his kitchen on 18th September 2010.
London Fire Brigade reported that Mr Russell’s washing machine was set alight due to an electrical fault and the flames then spread to other nearby flammable materials.
Mr Atkinson from the London Fire Brigade said: “We believe that, at some point, he intervened and probably tried to tackle the fire by shutting the door behind him to keep it confined. Unfortunately that exacerbated the situation for him. He seemed to be an old-school type of gentleman but it would have been better to have left it.”
A verdict of accidental death was found and coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said: “I find that, on the balance of probabilities, it was something as toxic as cyanide that killed him very quickly indeed before he could have been burned. No smoke alarms were fitted but would it have prevented this death? I suspect it would not have done.”
Fire at London scrapyard shuts M1
A fire which broke out at a scrapyard close to the M1 has caused over 36 hours of chaos.
Over 40 firefighters and 8 fire engines attended the blaze which started at a scrapyard in Mill Hill, London at around 4am on Thursday 14th April. The fire resulted in the closure of a large section of the M1 in London and cancellations and delays to Thameslink, Southeastern and East Midlands trains.
A spokesperson for the London fire brigade said: “Firefighters from Wembley, Harrow and surrounding fire stations are at the scene. It is too soon to say what caused the blaze but the cause will be under investigation.”
Firefighters spent hours battling the flames and cooling the gas cylinders to avoid explosions. Some of the cylinders contained acetylene which is highly flammable and unstable. Firefighters will remain at the scene to monitor the situation.
Woman rescued from house after neighbour spots fire
A woman has had a lucky escape after being rescued from a fire in her home in Staffordshire on Sunday night.
The fire was spotted by neighbour, Miss Lorraine Jackson who was on the phone to her mother when she looked out of her window and saw flames coming from the bedroom window.
Miss Jackson immediately called the emergency services and then alerted other neighbours to the fire.
Miss Jackson said; “I was on the phone to my mother and I just looked out and saw flames coming out of the window. I told my mum I’d call her back, rang the fire brigade and ran over and started banging on my neighbours door. It was lucky because I just happened to look out of the window. In another 10 minutes I was going to go up to bed.”
15 firefighters attended the fire, along with 2 doctors, an ambulance and a rapid response vehicle.
An investigation will be carried out to determine the cause of the fire.
Man engulfed in flames at allotment
A man has been burnt whilst working on his allotment in Goms Mill, London.
The 44 year old had been burning rubbish at the allotment and had used petrol to ignite the fire. As the man added more rubbish, the flames leapt out of the container and set fire to his clothing which had become soaked with petrol fumes.
Luckily his friend ran to help him by putting water and soil on him and rolling him on the ground to try and extinguish the flames.
The man suffered burns to his right hand, arm and his face and was taken to University Hospital of North Staffordshire.
Mick Daniel of Longton Fire Station said: “The safety message here is not to use accelerants to get fires going, as the fumes are invisible but still flammable. The man has suffered from burns and is now in hospital so we would urge anyone who does intend to burn items to do so in a controlled manner. They should also make sure the fire is a safe distance away from any property, hedges or flammable materials.”