A wood factory site in which a dust shed was destroyed and a main building severely damaged has been handed back to the site’s management almost two weeks after the blaze broke out.
Crews were called to the blaze at the Boardcraft factory in Eaton Socon, Huntingdonshire, at around 9.40am on 16 July. The fire started in a dust shed and quickly spread to the adjoining 60m x 30m main building.
Firefighters had to withdraw from the main building as the fire spread rapidly and conditions became unsafe. One firefighter suffered heat exhaustion and was taken to hospital as a precaution.
A spokesperson from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said the fire is believed to have started by a spark from a woodcutting machine which ignited wood dust.
Speaking during the first few hours of the fire, Andy Tucker, incident commander, said:
"In the initial stages of the incident, crews concentrated their efforts inside the building, trying to hold the fire back and also on removing a number of cylinders which were in the immediate area.
"Shortly after the cylinders were removed, the fire started rapidly spreading and it was at this point that it was deemed unsafe for firefighters to stay in the building.
"Thereafter, crews concentrated their efforts on tackling the fire from the outside and also to stop the fire from spreading to a number of adjacent buildings, including an electricity sub station which was nearby."
Firefighting was made particularly difficult as the seat of the fire was covered by piles of laminated wood, with water running off the wood and failing to reach the fire underneath.
Crews remained on the scene for 3-4 days, and then conducted regular inspections, finally handing back the site to the company yesterday.
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