Fire Archives | Cambridge Risk

The Cost of the Erith Fire and how much has Ocado Learnt from Previous Incidents?

It is rare to get detailed information on the costs of incidents; so the recent financial update from Ocado Retail, covering the period around the fire at their Erith fulfilment centre, is particularly interesting. Comments by the company’s senior management, also raise a question mark over how much they have learnt from previous fires. A […]

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UK Electricity Supplies hit by Perfect Storm

Electricity prices in the UK were already increasing because of a combination of the rising cost of fossil fuels, outages of nuclear power plants and an unseasonable shortage of wind. However, the sudden shock of a fire at a National Grid site in Ashford, Kent shutting down a 2GW interconnection with France sent prices rocketing

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Remembering Pipe Alpha 33 Years On

On 6th July 1988, 167 men died following a devastating fire on the Piper Alpha platform, operated by Occidental Oil in the North Sea. Only 61 people survived, some of whom leapt over 100 feet from the burning platform into the sea. As ever, our thoughts are with those survivors and the bereaved families. The

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On This Day in History – The Buncefield Explosion

Fifteen years ago today, at 6am on Sunday 11th December 2005, the largest ever explosion and fire in peacetime Western Europe took place at the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot in Hemel Hempstead. Miraculously there were no fatalities, and only 60 casualties; but in every other sense the impact of the incident was huge. Summarising some

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On This Day in History – The Kings Cross Fire

On the evening of 18th of November 1987, 31 people died and many more were injured in a terrible fire in Kings Cross Underground station. As always in these blog posts, we should firstly remember the victims and the many others who were affected by the incident. Whilst the most obvious “cause” of the tragedy

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Book Review – The Heat of the Moment by Sabrina Cohen-Hatton

I read and enjoyed Sabrina Cohen-Hatton’s “The Heat of the Moment: A Firefighter’s Stories of Life and Death Decisions” last year but neglected to blog about it at the time. It was only when listening recently to media coverage of the London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) response to the Grenfell Tower fire that I was reminded

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Stalybridge Mill Fire Impacts on Businesses and Community Groups

There have been widespread reports of the huge fire that broke out at Ray Mill in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester on Saturday night. At its height, five stories of the mill were on fire and over 50 firefighters were battling to contain the blaze. Miraculously there are no reports of any injuries. Thanks to the efforts

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How will fire impact Cancer Research at the Christie?

There is widespread coverage of a large fire that has broken out at a research building attached to The Christie. The fire started at around 10.35, being brought under control shortly before 1500hrs, although still not extinguished. The nature of this incident would test even the most developed and well-rehearsed business continuity plan, from both

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