Investigation launched into devastating blaze
AN investigation has been launched into what caused a major blaze at a West college that took scores of firefighters to extinguish in the early hours of yesterday.
A neighbour of Bridgwater and Taunton College’s campus in Bridgwater who couldn’t sleep raised the alarm at 3.30am.
At the peak of the blaze as many as 15 fire engines and their crews were on the scene.
Crews worked through the night to bring the fire in the motorcycle and motorsport workshops under control.
Some firefighters came from as far away as Bovey Tracey in Devon and crews from Avon Fire and Rescue Service helped their colleagues from Devon and Somerset tackle the blaze.
It is not yet known what caused the fire, which witnesses said could be seen from miles around, with flames leaping 30 feet in the air.
Chris Hutter, who lives near the college at College Way, raised the alarm after spotting the building was alight.
He said: “I was watching television as I couldn’t sleep at 3.30am.
“I heard loud bangs, so I looked out my bedroom window and saw white smoke and orange flames coming from the back of the college so I automatically called 999.
“The college is less than a minute away from my house, so I helped with directing the fire engines to where I saw the fire coming from.”
He later said: “The flames, I reckon, are about 20 to 30ft above the college. The whole back of the college is orange.
“You cannot see part of Sydenham because of the smoke. It does not help because it is so windy.”
Mr Hutton estimated there were around 150 firefighters at the scene.
Bridgwater, Taunton, Burnhamon-Sea, Nether Stowey, Street, Glastonbury, Wellington, Somerton, Cheddar, Winscombe and Westonsuper-Mare were among the fire stations to dispatch crews.
The officer in charge of the emergency services’ response said flames were licking through the windows and roof vents of the college when firefighters arrived.
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service incident commander Paul Mitchell said when crews arrived they found a “considerable fire”.
Mr Mitchell added that the high winds also hampered firefighters’ efforts to contain the blaze.
He said: “There was a lot of smoke and it was considerably windy in the early hours of this morning so that fanned the flames so when we arrived it was a considerable fire inside.
“The flames were actually out through the windows and up through the roof vent when we got here.”
College principal Andy Berry said the fire service had been ‘incredible’.
He added that the fact that the college was like a university campus with multiple separate buildings had meant the fire was contained to one building.
Bridgwater councillor and member of the Fire Authority Leigh Redman said: “I am really pleased that no one appears to have been hurt.
“The response included wholetime and on-call firefighters.
“I want to thank all crews for their professional and perceptive response.
“As the job winds down I hope that projects and important vehicle damage is limited, so that students can get back as soon as it is safe to do so.
“My thoughts are with anyone impacted by this devastating event and hope that it was not found to be a deliberate ignition.”
An investigation into the cause of the fire is under way.
AROUND 50 students are going to be affected in the aftermath of the fire, according to the principal.
The inferno engulfed the motorsport and motorcycle workshops leaving nothing but burnt-out remains behind.
Principal Andy Berry said: “I think this is going to affect around 50 students, my heart goes out to those who have got project work lost in the fire.
“It’s a major incident, there’s no question about it.
“There’s some specialist equipment in there, so I’m really concerned that it could impact the students.
“We specialised in motorsports engineering, so we would have had road and race car technology in it. We run our own motorsport team, so we would have had a really nice, lightweight radical sports car in there that has been really badly damaged. It’s also our motorcycle workshop so it would have affected those motorcycles inside too.”
Mr Berry was called at around 5am, before arriving an hour later to find that most of the fire had been put out by then.
He said: “By then there was none of that raging fire left, it has just been dampened down since around 6am.
“We’ll be in contact with our insurers and I would like to see the building boarded up quickly.
“I suspect we may end up having to do a major re-build on this as it is severely damaged.”