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Fire at Banbury nursery towards end of school day
01/12/2020
Staff put into practise their evacuation plan and keep all children safe as blaze takes hold
“We can’t establish exactly what’s happened because we haven’t had a chance to investigate, but by the looks of it what they did really helped to get everyone out safely”. That’s the view of the Incident Manager from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue after a fire at a Banbury town centre nursery this evening.
Fire appliances from Oxfordshire and Warwickshire were called to deal with the blaze at the Smart Tots Day Nursery and Pre-School on the Horsefair in Banbury this evening. At some points witnesses observed flames leaping above the roof of the building.
The fire officer in charge of the incident has praised nursery staff for following their procedures and evacuating the building quickly and safely.
The fire was first reported shortly after 5.00pm towards the end of the nursery day. It is understood children were still present at the time.
It is not yet clear how the fire was discovered but the fire alarm was sounded and staff put into practise their evacuation plan. Staff and children were able to utilise the Whately Hall Hotel for shelter.
Matt Chapman, the Incident Manager for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue told Banbury FM: “Upon arrival there was a fire inside the building. The crews went in and the speed they were able to go in and find and locate the fire meant that they were able to extinguish it quite quickly.
“From the sound of it the [staff] who were here evacuated really quickly and it looks like all their procedures did exactly what they’re supposed to do and evacuated everyone safely. We’re really fortunate to have Whately Hall over the road who took them in and managed to shelter.”
A hydraulic platform from Leamington joined the Oxfordshire crews. Matt Chapman said: “Because of the nature of the building’s roof it looks like the fire could have spread into the roof. At the moment we’re sending up some crews with a neighbouring service’s hydraulic platform so they can look down and just check it hasn’t spread.”
Currently it is unclear how and where the fire started. Matt Chapman told us: “We’ve got a trained fire investigator who is here and had a look around but some of the tests he’s going to need to do need to take place in daylight hours, so fortunately colleagues from Thames Valley Police are going to keep the site secure overnight and we’ll come back in the morning an establish how it started.”
A resident from the top floor flat in the next door Old Vicarage told Banbury FM he had been called back home shortly after arriving at work. He was waiting for details of when he might be able to gain access to his home.
To allow fire crews to work safely southbound traffic on the main road was diverted along the front of the Whately Hall Hotel. Northbound traffic was unable to get past Banbury Cross.
Fire crews will return to the scene tomorrow in the daylight to continue their investigations which may result in some disruption to traffic on the Oxford Road.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam