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Fire engulfs Park Royal factory Jun 11 2009
FORTY firefighters have been called to a blaze at an evacuated food factory in Park Royal.
The fire broke out at 9.50am at 268 Abbeydale Road, one of four neighbouring buildings owned by Katsouris Fresh Foods, where a total of 480 employees worked.
Part of the Icelandic Bakkavör Group, the firm supplies ready meals, ethnic snacks and dips to supermarkets including Tesco and Sainsbury's.
Eight fire engines - including Wembley and Willesden - were scrambled to tackle the flames and the road is sealed off.
GMB union organiser Hiten Vaiyda told the Observer: "I heard the fire started from the filo pastry department. They took all the employees out and told them to stay away. All are safe."
A spokeswoman for Bakkavör Group said: "Katsouris Fresh Foods can confirm that a fire has broken out in one of its units at its Abbeydale site.
"Our emergency procedures were immediately put into action with all employees being evacuated quickly and safely and there have been no injuries. The emergency services are making every effort to contain the fire.
Alperton fire at food factory under control
12:40pm Thursday 11th June 2009
A FIRE at a factory in Alperton which produces ready meals for major supermarkets has been brought under control.
Workers at the Katsouris food preparation plant believe the blaze started in the bakery at around 9am this morning and quickly spread to the rest of the building.
Alan Walker, a contractor who was part of a team making alterations to the factory, said everyone was told to evacuate immediately after the alarm was raised.
He said: “The fire alarm went off and we were told to get out.
“From outside I saw flames coming out of the roof. It's going to be a write-off.”
Dozens of staff have been evacuated from the factory, one of the four the company has on the Abbeydale Estate, which is on the outskirts of Park Royal.
The company, which produces ready meals for supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda, is reassigning staff at the moment to continue working in its other buildings.
Firefighters have surrounded the fire and have it under control, but they will be on the scene for large parts of this afternoon dampening down and extinguishing remaining pockets of fire.
Smoke continues to billow out of the roof of the factory, which appears to have been badly damaged in the blaze.
Paul Scott, a contractor from Stevens Weighing Machines, who was working the building when the fire broke out, said although he managed to move his van out of harms way, lots of expensive equipment is likely to have been damaged or destroyed.
He said: “It looked like a very big fire, there was lots of black smoke.
“The fire started in one part but with the wind, it quickly spread through the rest of the building.”
No one is thought to have been injured in the fire.
Boiler house fire at food factory June 2007
Fire crews are dealing with a blaze at a Norfolk poultry processing factory.
Four appliances were called to Grampian Foods at Attleborough on Friday morning after plumes of heavy smoke were seen coming from a chimney.
The fire was discovered in an outside boiler room and all staff have been evacuated from the building.
The main production areas are not believed to have been affected and work is continuing on the site. About 20 firefighters were at the scene.
Blaze at chicken factory tackled 18TH August 2006
The Fire and Rescue Service has tackled a blaze at the Moy Park chicken factory in Moira, County Down.
The fire was reported at about midday on Friday and 35 firefighters and seven appliances helped put out the fire.
Workers had to be evacuated after a fire broke out in an oven, which spread to the roof space.
The Fire and Rescue Service said a well rehearsed emergency plan helped contain the fire in a small area and saved the factory from being totally destroyed.
Group commander John Allen said this was among a number of factors which helped save the factory.
"In the past within the food processing industries some of the premises of a similar nature to this have been totally destroyed within 30 to 40 minutes of a fire breaking out," he said.
"So therefore prompt action is essential if we are going to have a chance of saving the building and those jobs."
Food factory chimney fire 2nd October 2003
Up to 40 firefighters have been at the scene of a fire at an industrial unit in Cambridgeshire.
The fire began in the chimney flue of Kitchen Range Savoury Foods at the unit near the Spittles junction of the A14 near Huntingdon just after 2130 BST on Thursday.
Seven fire engines from Sawtry St Ives, Ramsey, St Neots and Huntingdon were called to deal with the fire.
It took until midnight to bring the flames under control.
A fat fryer had to be cut into sections and taken outside to cool.
The scene will be inspected by firefighters throughout Friday morning.
Blaze closes pickle factory fire 27th October 2004
A major blaze which took 150 firefighters to control has forced a Suffolk factory which makes Branston pickle to close.
The blaze started near wooden pallets and gas cylinders at Premier Foods, Bury St Edmunds.
Because of the severity of the fire, officers had to work in shifts through Tuesday night to control it.
Sales director Ian York said about 40 workers were at the site when the fire broke out but no-one was hurt.
The fire started at about 1.45am and within an hour 150 firefighters were on the scene.
'Important factory'
By 5am the fire was under control but it smouldered for the rest of the day.
"We needed 150 people because of the severity of the fire - the intensity and severity of the heat meant we couldn't let firefighters work for more than 15 or 20 minutes," a fire service spokesman said.
About 300 people work at the factory which has recently been modernised and the workforce enlarged.
Company spokesman Dominic Box said Premier Foods was committed to re-opening the factory as soon as possible.
"It is a very important factory," he said. "We know that we need to get this place moving very quickly and we are putting every effort into doing that now."
Pickle fire 'caused by lighting'
Halogen lights are being blamed for a fire that partly gutted a Suffolk factory that makes Branston pickle.
About 150 firefighters tackled the blaze at Premier Foods in Bury St Edmunds on Wednesday morning.
An investigation has found the most probable cause of the blaze was heat off the halogen lights, which then set fire to plastic packaging on bottles.
The bottles were stored on wooden pallets in a covered walkway, enabling the fire to spread quickly.
Fire crews spent over 24 hours at the factory getting the fire under control.
Officers are warning anyone with halogen lights to make sure there is enough space and ventilation around them.
Clear-up begins at crisp factory 4th February 2005
A clear-up is under way after a fire burned out one of the kitchens at a crisp factory outside Norwich.
The blaze, in 9,000 gallon oil vats at the Kettle Foods plant, flared again early on Friday after crews hoped they had brought it under control.
At least 80 firefighters from 10 stations were sent to fight the fire when it began on Thursday afternoon.
Supplies are not expected to be affected and one production area will be able to resume working later.
Production is not expected to restart until the building is declared safe.
Altogether crews spent 12 hours at the factory.
Fire-retarded walls at the factory contained the flames to one of the two cooking rooms and stopped it from spreading.
