ROSS-ON-WYE LAUNDRY DESTROYED IN MASSIVE FIRE
Fire crews from the Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service and South Wales were called to a huge fire in early May at a laundry in Ross-on-Wye. The fire, which broke out in the early hours, destroyed the business and is one of several major laundry fires to break out in unsprinkled facilities in recent years.
The major blaze at the Paragon Laundry in Oveross Industrial Estate on May 2nd required 60 firefighters, 12 appliances and two aerial ladders to bring under control. The 2600m2 warehouse was destroyed in the blaze, but fire crews were able to prevent the fire spreading to other buildings. While, thankfully, there were no injuries, the fire service advised local residents to close windows and doors, with smoke and ash from the blaze reaching the nearby town centre.
The business, which specialises in laundry services for the hospitality industry, moved into the purpose built ‘state-of-the-art’ facility in 2005 having been first established in the 1920s as The Ross and District Sanitary Laundry. Sadly, the loss of their building will cause loss of earnings along with business disruption, as the warehouse will have to be rebuilt. A temporary site will need to be located and staff redeployed at other sites. It is reported the business, which is part of Clean Linen Services, is said to be launching ‘disaster recovery and contingency plans’.
Five weeks earlier on March 24th 2022, the Coast to Coast laundry service at Penbeagle Industrial Estate in St Ives was partially destroyed following a fire. Whilst in August 2021, seven fire crews attended a commercial laundry in Brighouse Road, Middlesborough to control a blaze which severely damaged the premises.
Fires in commercial laundries occur on a regular basis due to a number of factors including electrical faults, ignition of lint build up and spontaneous combustion caused by laundry that is dried and stacked whilst still hot. Furthermore, there is the risk of clothing that is impregnated with cooking oils self-igniting if not properly cleaned.
To prevent similar scenarios from occurring within these industrial laundries there needs to be more proactivity and conscious business resilience decision-making Unless trading can continue quickly, businesses feel the financial pressure of maintaining cash flow and often flounder. Fire is indiscriminate and inexplicable, but that doesn’t mean actions can’t be taken to control it.
Currently automatic fire sprinklers are not widely used in the UK because the guidance rarely prescribes their use. Yet automatic fire sprinklers prevent large fires because they activate automatically over a fire, controlling or even extinguishing the blaze before the Fire and Rescue Service arrives. They therefore save lives and protect firefighters who attend incidents – but they also prevent significant damage or destruction of a building by fire.
Having sprinklers fitted would have protected these laundry businesses in the long run. They safeguard against potentially disastrous losses and also aid life safety. By preventing large fires, sprinklers also protect the environment by avoiding CO2 emissions, reducing excess water use by the fire brigade and eliminating water supply contamination. Above all, they maintain business continuity. In the event of a fire, many businesses with sprinkler systems find they are back up-and-running in a matter of hours.
Image Credit: Jon Laight @ HWFireJLaight