Freak fire sweeps through tile factory (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Freak fire sweeps through tile factory

10:20am Thursday 10th August 2006

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AN ELECTRICAL fire has left Malmesbury tile manufacturers Mark and Paul Boswell facing a repair bill that could reach as much as £50,000.

Fire crews from Malmesbury and Tetbury were called to the blaze at Boakley Farm, Brokenborough, at about 6.15pm last Wednesday.

The brothers run their business, Cotswold Roofing Services, which employs four people, in a converted barn at the farm.

Paul Boswell, 40, said he was shocked to receive a call shortly after finishing for the day to say the barn was on fire.

"We shut the factory up at five o'clock and I got a phone call at about 6.30pm to say it was on fire," he said.

"I thought it was a bit weird because there's nothing inside to catch fire, because it's all concrete and steel.

"I came up and there were about three fire engines and my brother was already there. The fire investigator had made the decision that an electrical fault was to blame for the fire.

"There was nothing you could think would catch fire, other than a pallet against the wall.

"It was leaned up against an electrical cable and the pallet had caught fire.

"Normally the pallet would have just gone out on its own and nothing else would have caught fire, but it had got underneath the steel cladding on the inside of the building.

"The outside of the building is made of timber, so I presume a bit of wind must have sucked the flames outside and the outside caught fire.

"The steel sheets on the inside got damaged and they're all warped from the heat and we've lost some stock."

Mr Boswell said the repairs could cost anything from £15,000 to £50,000. He said that the premises were insured.

He added they would continue to work from the factory, although it would not be easy.

"It's going to be difficult, because we have got no electricity, as the cables are all burnt out," he said.

"We are trying to rig up some generators, so we're hoping we're going to be able to muddle through with the production.

"We have found a safe working area in the factory, so we are going to struggle on.

"We're just hoping we can get everything back to how it was in a short space of time.

"Nobody was hurt and it could have been a lot worse, but, saying that, if we had been here at the time we would have been able to put it out."

Malmesbury watch manager Wayne Jones said: "On arrival, we were faced with a fire along the timber cladding of one side of the building.

"The fire was extinguished within 15 minutes. We believe the cause was most likely due to a possible fault in the electrical cable."

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