Fire at Highbridge caravans
seen reference on another forum to a major fire at burnham on sea branch. Hope no on here has a van there at the moment and the business, staff and customers are not affected in the long term.
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Really aweful news. Apparently 100 caravans destroyed but no buildings were caught in the blaze. It sis ds like no casualties either but about 1 million pounds worth of damage. I think they are opening as usual - or as near as possible to normal.
David
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It's a huge dealership. It started as a family business and I think family members are still involved.
Estimates are varying over how many vans have been lost. I think the fire was in the section where they display used vans but the workshops and vans requiring work are also in this area. They don't do storage and, I think, the new stock is held in other
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Not a cynic
but a big M/van dealership just off the A1 in Notts got a big insurance pay out Twice after never proved fires,got them out of finacial "problems" no new vans got damaged there on either occassion
looking at the damaged signage new caravans were destroyed aswell as second hand
Also have looked through the accounts on companies house and last year they were def not cash strapped ! things would have to have gone badly wrong !!
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the site is in three parts....on the west side of the A38 is the MH section (plus offices) and a little away is the caravan sales area plus workshops.
new and used behicles are displayed together.
there is a 'newly delivered vehicle' compound on the east side of the road.
i have no idea where the fire was located...
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We were actually strolling around on Thursday, what a shock glad nobody was hurt
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As a long time customer of highbridge caravans - I have bought all of my caravans from them since the early 1990's, I would say that this is an absolute disaster. There have been well over 130 caravans destroyed, - a mixture of New and used. None of sales dept vans would have had gas cylinders in them as they were stored in another part of the compound. Most of the explosions heard were inflated tyres on the vans exploding. The only vans with gas cylinders on board would have been customers own vans in for service. sadly I believe many of them were also lost.
This is a very successful company, well run and well managed. They have just completed a total re build of the workshops area which I believe was not affected, early reports said the fire first affected the perimeter fencing but then spread into the compound because of the prevailing winds. To early to say yet but I suspect that this was most likely to be a malicious attack from outside. definately not an internal one.
I was due to take my van there next weekend to leave for servicing! I am waiting to hear from them now.
TF
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Just Googled this after my wife saw a comment elsewhere. The reports do vary quite a bit but if the one attributed to the Sun is correct I will cancel my visit to the NEC to look at new vans.
The blaze destroyed over 100 caravans worth over £100 million in Somerset. Caravan fire ...
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Latest reports now saying the number of vans destroyed is in the region of 160. Most will have been new or used ones in the sales area, but there will have been a significant number of customers vans either in for repair or service, or awaiting collection.
Whatever comes out of the current investigation remains to be seen, but I remain confident in the reputation and professionalism of the company concerned.
However I would not be surprised if this dreadful fire did not lead to new rules being introduced concerning the presence of gas bottles left in caravans submitted for service or repair. I hope not because of the inconvenience of having to remove them prior to taking the van in, and also the added difficulty of checking the gas tight integrity as part of the service. Time will tell, but the cost to the insurers will not be taken lightly.
TF
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Possible arson? Hope Jeremy Clarkson can account for his whereabouts.
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Most if not all losses were vans for sale.
Ours was on site and collected today and zero issues. Despite staff understandably being very upset and shocked customer service was spot on. To be honest, was embarressed by the sheer heartless responses from some customers.
scenes were like something from a movie, unbelievable. the reported bangs were tyres popping, not gas canisters.
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PAW, you are spot on re the tyres! 160 vans, many twin axled ones would have meant well over 300 tyres "Popping Off" those of us who have ever heard that will never forget the sound. Yes, - a few customers vans might have had gas cylinders on board, but
the vast majority were sales vans devoid of cylinders. See my first post!TF
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It would be unlikely for gas cylinders to explode. They are extremely robudt and are designed to withstand most fires. A caravan burns out in a very short time and generally will not stay burning long enough to cause the cylinder to explode.
There is no guarantee it will not happen but it would be a real disaster if it happened. The problem with dealers sites is the caravans will be parked very close indeed and the fire will spread very quickly. As reported on other threads a gire at Broadway resulted in damage to the units either side even with a 6 m gap. On a dealers you might be looking at 1 m so the ease of spread would be easy to understand.
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Have a look at:
http://burnham-on-sea.com/news/2016/highbridge-caravans-fire-damage-01-10-16.php
shows the extent of the damage.
Dave
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Wow, when a caravan catches fire there is not much left. Sobering pictures.
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Goodness me, the owners must be distraught
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It would be unlikely for gas cylinders to explode. They are extremely robudt and are designed to withstand most fires. A caravan burns out in a very short time and generally will not stay burning long enough to cause the cylinder to explode.
And we can trust everyone to turn off the bottles' valves when not in use?
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It would be unlikely for gas cylinders to explode. They are extremely robudt and are designed to withstand most fires. A caravan burns out in a very short time and generally will not stay burning long enough to cause the cylinder to explode.
And we can trust everyone to turn off the bottles' valves when not in use?
Even then you get a flame from the outlet but it should not be onto the cylinder so you still should be safe.
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