The scene of this morning's major fire in Simpson Road, Bletchley. Click here for another picture.

6 September 2009

Firefighters have worked through the night to prevent a fire which destroyed a commercial unit in Bletchley from spreading to other buildings.

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service was called to the glass and window storage and distribution centre in Simpson Road at 2.31am.

Seven crews from Bletchley, Broughton and Great Holm attended, along with support vehicles from Aylesbury, the hose-laying vehicle from Stokenchurch, an additional turntable ladder from Bedford and a number of officers. At its peak, there were about 45 firefighters at the scene.

Area Manager Denis O’Driscoll, who also attended, said: “On arrival, firefighters were faced with a well-developed fire in a commercial unit that was already threatening to spread to adjacent units.

“The wind was carrying burning embers across the road, so we had to contend with the further danger of another property some distance away becoming involved in the fire.

“We worked extremely hard to save these buildings while also trying to bring under control a fire that had already taken hold before we were called.”

Firefighters used two aerial monitors from turntable ladders, a ground monitor, four jets and four sets of breathing apparatus. They also had to cool a number of LPG and argon cylinders involved in the fire.

One neighbouring building was slightly damaged by radiated heat, and another suffered slight fire damage.

Water from the nearby canal was used to supplement the water supply, but water running off from the incident was not allowed to re-enter the canal.

Relief crews were brought in at about 7am, and an investigation into the cause of the fire is due to start at 10.30am.