Kebab shop fire was threat to historic city buildings

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A fire chief has told how crews battled to prevent a city centre blaze from ripping through a terrace of historic properties.

Flames poured from the roof of Westgate Kebabs in St Dunstan’s on Friday night.

It was feared that if the blaze was allowed to take hold, it could quickly spread through the roofs of the neighbouring period properties, causing devastation.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service area manager Mark Rist, who oversaw the operation, said: “We had to get on top of it as quickly as possible.

“Historic properties often have a lot of hidden roof voids and timber and that was our biggest concern.”

The fire is believed to have started in the cooking extraction flue which leads onto the roof. The typical cause is a build-up of deposits in the chimney.

The alert first went out at about 8.20pm when flames were seen blazing from the roof, drawing a big crowd of onlookers.

One said: “It’s absolute chaos. We were drinking next door and could smell burning so went outside. The roof of the takeaway was on fire, but they were still serving people kebabs.”

Mr Rist said: “We quickly established there was no threat to life in the building so it was a case of getting on top of the fire as quickly as possible.

“With incidents like this you need to be prepared for the worst case scenario, which is why we had eight pumps at the scene.

“You have to quickly get ahead of the fire rather than chase it, which is what we did.”

Mr Rist says the latest firefighting techniques and equipment, including thermal imaging cameras, fog spikes and a specialist height ladder were deployed.

“We were able to track the fire to tackle the hotspots with fog spikes, which are fine mists of water,” he said.

“It meant there was far less damage to the building than there might have been years ago when it would have probably been flooded with water.

“The crews did a fantastic job of containing it to the building, although there is quite a bit of damage to the roof and smoke damage to the top floor.

“With every job like this we have a debrief and we’ll probably use it as a case study because the same techniques and experience can be applied elsewhere.”

The kebab takeaway remained closed this week.

Eight engines attended the fire at Westgate Kebabs which is now closed for repairs

Kent Fire and Rescue Service area manager Mark Rist