Investigators from the West Midlands Fire Service have revealed they believe they know what started the huge blaze in Birmingham yesterday. It comes as the factory building that caught fire at the industrial park behind Birmingham’s Fort shopping park has been demolished today.
A dozen fire engines, 4×4 brigade response vehicles and a hydraulic aerial platform were sent to the huge blaze at Hastingwood Industrial Park on Wood Lane, Erdington, at around 3:20 pm on Wednesday, July 17th. The industrial building blaze was at the rear of The Fort shopping centre, which was evacuated as the scale of the fire became evident on Wednesday afternoon.
Drivers were urged to avoid the area and bus diversions were put in place as crews battled the flames and plumes of smoke were seen for miles around the city. West Midlands Fire Service issued a major update early on Thursday evening to rule that the cause of the fire was accidental.
A WMFS spokesperson said: “Our fire investigators believe that the fire started accidentally, and was electrical in nature.”
Troy Yeomans, centre manager at The Fort, released a statement on Thursday evening to confirm that the fire-hit building was demolished today. The shopping park re-opened to the public on Thursday morning.
Mr Yeomans said: “As most people will be aware, yesterday afternoon, following a large fire at a business park at the rear of The Fort Shopping Park, the park was evacuated as a precaution at 3:30 pm. It quickly became clear that this was a major incident, with 12 fire engines on site to control the blaze.”
“It was then decided by the police and fire service that the park should remain closed on safety grounds for the rest of the day. Whilst there was a small risk from the fire, the smoke and debris presented a major risk, especially in and around our service areas and staff car park. Given the scale of the fire, it is a great relief that there have been no reported injuries.”
“We are all incredibly grateful to the fire and police services for their help and hard work. I am certain they will be equally grateful to the teams at Greggs and Costa who stayed around to provide them with food and drink when things calmed down!”
“The evacuation went fantastically well and I would like to thank all of the shops, staff and customers of The Fort for making sure that this happened in a safe and orderly manner. I would also like to thank the park colleagues, and my team, for making a very challenging and at times chaotic situation both manageable and controlled.”
“I would like to apologise to and thank all of our customers for their patience and understanding. We can confirm that the park is fully open with no restrictions or impact from the incident. The building will be demolished today, as the fire service needs to make the whole site safe, but this operation will not impact the park in any way.”
