19 October 2009

Swift action by firefighters prevented a fire from spreading in a private fitness club in Milton Keynes.

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service was called to the Bourton Mill Health & Leisure Club in Engaine Drive, Shenley Church End, at 9.52pm last night.

Crews from Great Holm, Bletchley and Broughton attended along with a turntable ladder from High Wycombe and Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service's Command and Control Unit from Aylesbury. They brought the fire under control using one main jet, six sets of breathing apparatus and a thermal imaging camera.

At its peak there were more than 30 firefighters and fire and rescue officers at the scene.

Watch Manager Chris Montague said: “On arrival firefighters were faced with a well-developed fire in the ground floor gym of the leisure centre.

“Crew Manager Skinner and Firefighter Alexander-Clarke entered the building wearing breathing apparatus and worked well initially to contain the fire.

“Crews worked extremely hard to prevent the fire from spreading to the rest of the building.”

Although the fire damage was contained to the ground floor, there was smoke logging to the rest of the two-storey building, and firefighters used PPV fans to ventilate the area.

Reinspections were carried out through the night and an investigation has started into the cause of the fire this morning.