Busy Morning

It’s probably never good when you wake up at 5am to the chatter of police sounding radios outside your house.  At least it’s becoming a bit familiar to see emergency vehicles from our bedroom window.  This time it’s the fire brigade.  So far it looks like it’s just the warehouse and not somebody’s home which is good.

From Cambridge News Online

Fifty firefighters tackle warehouse blaze

Around 50 firefighters tackled the blaze after crews were called to the former John Lewis warehouse on Mill Road shortly before 1.15am today.

The flames are now contained but are still burning, and firefighters remain on the scene.

The warehouse is owned by the Muslim Academic Trust, in partnership with the Cambridge Muslim Welfare Society, who had intended to demolish to make way for a new mosque.

It is now thought the fire could require it to be demolished immediately.

Alexander McCombie, who worked at the John Lewis warehouse for 17 years, said: “It is sad to see it end up like this. I don’t know what on earth might have caused it.

“It will have to come down now. The fire has gone all the way through. If you go to the back there is a hole in the wall and I can see a steel girder is bent.

“It must have been a wee bit hot.”

Families living on Mill Road have been describing the scene that unfolded in the early hours.

One, John Smith, said: “I heard the engines arrive, and you could see the fire glowing out of the top, but the firefighters seemed like they had it all under control.”

Another, who asked not to be named, said: “We managed to sleep through the initial part of it. Then I saw flashes behind the curtains. I looked out and saw orange smoke coming out of the building.

“It seemed to me the firefighters were very professional and it was extremely organised.

“It seemed to take quite a long time to get it under control. The only thing that worried me at one point was that it might spread to the garage next door.”

During the blaze, staff at nearby Brookfields Hospital were told to keep doors and windows closed.

Mill Road is closed is shut in both directions between Perne Road and Coleridge Road, and motorists have been advised to expect lengthy delays or to find alternative routes.

A diversion is in place using using Coleridge Road, Cherry Hinton Road, and Perne Road, but pedestrians and cyclists can still use Mill Road.

Once firefighters are able to enter the building they will carry out a full site search and launch an investigation.