Double fire puts Suffolk in a pickle: two blazes, both at major food processing factories, have occurred within metres of each other in the Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds within the space of a week. Following provisional fire investigation they are not believed to be connected or suspicious

The first fire hit the Premier Food factory in the early hours of October 27. The factory is the single producer of the well loved household name, Branston pickle.

Approximately 150 firefighters from Suffolk and neighbouring counties tackled the blaze on the industrial estate in Mildenhall Road, Bury St Edmunds.

An initial attendance of one pump was mobilised to a report of pallets on fire in a yard at 0142. The incident commander found a fire involving pallets in a covered area which served to intensify the heat between the two main production units of the premises. He was informed that cylinders had been involved but it was believed they had exploded. He immediately sent a "make pumps four" assistance message and requested the attendance of a turntable ladder.

At 0200 pumps were increased to ten. A further assistance message from incident commander DO Paul Collins increased pumping appliances to 15 and stated that the fire involved two single storey buildings of 100 x 150 metres joined by a canopied yard, with five ground monitors, two jets, one aerial jet and eight breathing apparatus in use.

At the height of tire blaze 25 pumps were in attendance, including crews from Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, an aerial ladder plat form and supporting pump from Essex. Suffolk CFO Malcolm Alcock subsequently commanded operations and the incident placed a large logistical strain on the brigade's re sources, pulling appliances from as far across the rural county of Suffolk as Orford on the coast and Lowestoft in the north, a distance in excess of 50 miles.

The physical size of the premises and difficulties with water supplies, necessitating two water relays, added to the problems encountered by officers and crews, an additional hazard was the presence of cylinders within the premises. Fire spread was checked by crews working in BA in punishing conditions within the factory buildings and a heightened level of safety control was put in place to monitor the situation, including use of thermal image cameras. The incident proved the effectiveness of the brigade's incident command system. A total of eight main jets, five ground monitors and two aerial jets were in use at the height of the blaze and over 100 BA cylinders were exhausted.

By 1000 the main fire was under control and remaining crews concentrated on damping down hotspots and continued cooling of cylinders. Neighbouring buildings remained evacuated and a 24 hour cordon remained in place until the cylinders were considered stable.

ACO Lee Howell assumed control of the incident and stated, after initial investigations, that the most probable cause of the fire was heat from halogen lighting in close proximity to plastic wrapping of bottles stored on wooden pallets. As the pallets were within the covered yard, intense heat from the fire was confined by the covered area and spread rapidly to both buildings.

SMOKEY BACON

In a bizarre twist of fate, exactly one week after the devastating blaze in the Branston Pickle factory, another huge fire occurred in a neighbouring food processing factory, only 100 yards further down Mildenhall Road. Crews were called at 0716 on Wednesday November 5 to Direct Table Foods who produce bacon and prepacked foods for major high street stores at Lamdin Road, Bury St Edmunds.

Upon arrival fire crews discovered tire involving the bacon smoking area of the factory which had compromised the sandwich panel structure. Again crews from across Suffolk and adjoining counties were involved in fighting the fire. The sandwich panel construction and the large open spaces within the food packaging and cold storage areas made firefighting particularly difficult.

The initial Incident Commander ADO John Hubble made pumps six at 0744 and this was increased to ten by 0758. An informative message from DO Kevin Burton stated a building of 100 x 200 metres of partial polystyrene sandwich panel construction, with fire involvement at ground, first and roof levels. Pumps were increased to 15 at 0836 and 20 by DCFO Seager who assumed command of the fire at 0857.

Due to the fact that the building had been converted, the sandwich panel construction was within an external weatherproof structure. As a result fire spread was within the inner structure which further hampered fire fighting operations. Crews were faced with a severe fire and large volumes of black smoke the inherent hazard of panel delamination meant that conditions within the building were considered too hazardous for close proximity firefighting and crews were with drawn. Intense heat meant that water curtains were established to protect surrounding buildings.

The dynamic nature of the incident meant the total number of jets in use varied, at the height of the incident, DCFO Seager reported that seven jets, three ground monitors, two aerial monitors, 2 x 13.5m and 2 x 9m ladders were in use, again water was relayed from open water including the static pond supplies of the local golf course.

Thermal imaging cameras again proved effective in determining heat transfer. Crews remained on site to damp down hotspots which continued to flare up throughout the night and into the following day. Conditions within the fire damaged building also proved problematical for Suffolk's Fire Investigation Officers.

Initial investigations are centring upon the area of the factory involved in the production of smoked bacon but the investigation is still ongoing at the time of writing.

COPYRIGHT 2004 DMG World Media Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group