Major Fires Ring In The New Year

• Content
• News
• Major Fires Ring In The New Year

03 January 2018 | Updated 01 January 1970

New Year's Eve saw a massive fire at a multi-storey car park at Kings Dock in the centre of Liverpool - up to 1,300 cars were destroyed, operator ACC Liverpool have said. Only those parked in open air locations may have survived the 1000 degree blaze.

The Brigade had been called at 4:42pm. The car park is adjacent to the 11,000 capacity Evening Echo Arena which had to be evacuated of families enjoying an international horse show. The horses remained in the Arena.

By 6:30am on New Year's Day, the fire had been contained but continued to burn. By 6:00pm the fire was fully extinguished.

Merseyside Fire & Rescue had received support from brigades from the north-west region through the early hours. This has raised questions from the City Mayoral office about cuts to the fire service. Mayor Joe Anderson thanked the fire service for their efforts whilst pointing to claims made by Dan Stephens, Chief Fire Officer at the Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS), that fire fighters now get to choose to put fires out or rescue people but not both. Stephens says MFRS has lost around 300 firefighters since he took over in 2011.

Meanwhile a Twitter debate raged about why the car park had not been fitted with a sprinkler system.

The inferno was so fierce that the site had to be divided into five sectors for firefighting purposes and the area around Kings Dock cordoned off. 12 appliances arrived initially until further back-up was requested.

Fortunately, no one is believed to have been seriously injured in the incident. Surrounding buildings were evacuated as a precaution and the public are asked to keep away from the area.

Firefighters have carried out a systematic search of the car park and are working with officers from Merseyside Police at the scene.

Initial investigations indicate that an accidental fire within a Land Rover caused other cars to ignite. This took place on Floor 3 of the complex.

Fire crews are working with structural engineers to ensure anyone working on the site remains safe and to advise on possible collapse. 

 

Dogs & horses

Fire crews did rescue two dogs from one vehicle on the day the fire broke out and a further four dogs from a vehicle on New Year's Day. The dogs have all been safely reunited with their owners.

Mayor Anderson reported via Twitter that horses that were in horse boxes in the car park (on Floor 1) when the fire broke out were evacuated to the Arena.

Car owners who were obliged to abandon their vehicles to the flames were provided with a reference number that would allow their respective insurers to be advised of the state of a vehicle and thus process a claim.

 

Barking - waste recycling centre fire

Six fire engines and 35 firefighters and officers were called to a fire at a waste recycling centre in Barking, London in the early hours of New Year's Day.

Twenty tonnes of recycling waste was destroyed in the blaze and part of an industrial waste compactor was also damaged by the fire.

Watch Manager Kevin Morris was at the scene, said: “On arrival this was a well developed fire. Crews worked extremely hard to stop the fire spreading and managed to keep it contained to the recycling centre. Fortunately no one was on the site at the time of the fire so there are no injuries reported.”

 

Fire at London Zoo - 23 December 2017

Ten fire engines and 72 firefighters and officers were called to a fire at a café and shop at London Zoo just before Christmas. The adventure café and shop were destroyed by the blaze, along with around half of an adjacent petting zoo.

Station Manager David George said: "The fire mainly involved the café and shop but part of a nearby animal petting area was also affected." "When they arrived our crews were faced with a very well developed fire. They worked incredibly hard in arduous conditions to bring it under control as quickly as possible and to stop it from spreading to neighbouring animal enclosures."

Sadly London Zoo confirmed that a much loved arrdvark called Misha died in the fire. Four meerkats are also missing and are presumed to have died.

 

London Zoo statement

'ZSL London Zoo can confirm that at approximately 6:00am on Saturday 23 December a fire broke out in the Animal Adventure section of the Zoo and spread to an adjacent shop.

'Duty staff that live on site at the zoo were on the scene immediately, and started moving animals to safety. A number of zoo staff have been treated at the scene for 'We will work closely with fire investigators to determine the cause of the incident."

 

Thirteen monkeys die in Woburn Safari Park fire

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service attended a fire at a monkey enclosure at Woburn Safari Park at 2:37am on the morning of Tuesday 2 January 2018.

A swift investigation has concluded that it is likely that the fire started accidentally in a generator.

When Firefighters from Woburn and Dunstable Community Fire Stations arrived along with the water carrier from Toddington they found the outbuilding housing Patas monkeys was well alight and its roof had fallen in. They fought the fire but 90% was ultimately damaged by the fire.

Thirteen monkeys died.

The fire was spotted by security guards on a routine patrol.

Picture: The blaze at a Liverpool city centre car park

Article written by Brian Shillibeer | Published 03 January 2018

Share

---

---

Related Articles

---