In the early hours of Spring Bank Holiday Monday a security guard reported a fire at 2 Sisters Foods, Westgate, Morecambe. It quickly became clear to the Fire Service that this was a serious fire and they recommended to the police the evacuation of 100 nearby homes because of the plume of smoke drifting over them. As the fire took hold a total of fifteen fire tenders attended, including three Aerial Ladder Platforms and the police closed part of Westgate to provide a safe working area for the emergency services.
At 3.30am the County Council's Duty Emergency Planning Officer contacted Lancaster City Council with a request for Salt Ayre Sports Centre to be opened as a Rest Centre for up to 250 residents who were being evacuated. The Centre Manager, along with several members of her staff, the Lancashire County Council Emergency Response Group and the voluntary agencies turned out and immediately began to set up the Rest Centre according to the pre-determined plan. By 5am the first residents were arriving at Salt Ayre to be booked in but at 5.30am the emergency services decided that, although there was a lot of smoke, the plume wasn't toxic and residents could be allowed to return home.
The Fire and Rescue Service continued to tackle the blaze but, later in the day, needed advice from a Building Control Officer regarding the safety of the fire damaged factory building. A Lancaster City Council officer turned out to assist with this and returned again on the Tuesday to offer further support. The wrecked building will probably have to be completely rebuilt.
The Local Authority involvement in this incident did not end there as a Food Safety Officer also had to attend and confirm that the foodstuffs involve in the fire were now unfit for human consumption, thereby enabling the site owners to claim on their insurance for this loss in addition to that of the building and machinery. A City Council officer attended the factory site on the Tuesday and Wednesday for this purpose.
The incident was a useful reminder of the importance of training and exercising for emergencies as this ensures an effective response by the blue light services, enables Local Authority staff to operate safely alongside them and also ensured that the Rest Centre was quickly ready to receive evacuees from the local community.
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