At 00:44 on 27th August, Derbyshire F&RS received a call to a fire at a factory producing insulation panels in Holmewood, near Chesterfield. The seat of the fire was in processed briquettes made from insulating material.
The two storey factory measures approximately 150m x 150m being of portal frame construction with cladding.
The fire activated two sprinkler heads on the factory’s wet pipe, tank and pump supplied, system and this controlled the fire before the F&RS attended. About 20m² of the factory were directly affected with fire damage being estimated at £500.
A total of 5 appliances were mobilised to the incident which involved the damping down and removal of a skip from within the factory using a F&RS ‘prime mover’.
The factory was empty at the time of the fire due to the bank holiday recess but F&RS personnel report that without the sprinklers there was potential for total loss due to the nature of the contents and the construction of the building, with subsequent a large number of jobs being of lost.