Army mess ablaze after f lares f ly at boozy dinner
Feuding officers take kayak into pool and launch rockets at each other, but one sets fire to building
TWO young Army officers set fire to a mess during a boozy dinner after they attempted to settle a disagreement by shooting flares at each other.
A room and corridor in the officers’ mess at Allenby Barracks in Bovington, Dorset, were gutted by fire after the incident at a “fathers and sons” dinner to celebrate the end of a training course.
Flares were fired after the unnamed officers decided to settle an argument by taking a kayak into the swimming pool outside and firing flares at each other, Forces News reported.
The Army confirmed there had been a fire and said the incident was the subject of investigation.
Friday’s dinner was to celebrate the end of a three-month course for young tank troop commanders of the Royal Armoured Corps officers who had recently graduated from Sandhurst.
One of the flares, which were not military ammunition, was fired through a window in a seven-storey accommodation block and set the room alight.
When personnel tried to put out the fire, sources said the base’s fire hoses had been shut off due to fears over Legionnaires’ disease following an outbreak on the base in January.
Soldiers then tried to put the fire out with carbon dioxide extinguishers, but failed and were forced to call Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Crews from across the region arrived at the base to tackle the blaze.
Firemen had to use water from the swimming pool to tackle the fire. They said the building remained usable, but much of it was badly damaged by water. The whole block was left empty for the weekend until the fire alarms could be reset.
A spokesman for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said the fire was put out by 1.50am and the cause “remains under investigation”.
The Armour Centre at Bovington is the British Army’s centre of excellence for armoured warfare training.
The centre trains soldiers in driving and maintaining armoured fighting vehicles and operating their weapons and communications equipment. The camp provides catering and accommodation facilities for up to 2,000.
Army sources suggested the incident was being viewed as “high jinx rather than criminal damage”.
One former officer told The Daily Telegraph: “They wouldn’t be the first to fire flares at each other at the ‘Bovvy Hilton’. This sort of thing used to happen all the time in my day.”
An Army spokesperson said: “We can confirm a fire occurred on Friday evening at Bovington Camp. There was some damage but no one was injured. While an investigation is taking place it would be inappropriate to comment further.”