Fire crews battle Bakkavor factory blaze

By Gwen Ridler

- Last updated on GMT

Fire fighters tackle a blaze at Bakkavor, while Gordon Rhodes & Son bounce back after a fire destroyed its site in Bradford
Fire fighters tackle a blaze at Bakkavor, while Gordon Rhodes & Son bounce back after a fire destroyed its site in Bradford

Related tags Customer service Customer Firefighter

Fire crews battled a blaze at Bakkavor Desserts in Nottinghamshire in the early hours of this morning (August 23), while sausage mix manufacturer Gordon Rhodes & Son has restarted production this week – less than nine days after a fire destroyed its Bradford site.

The fire at Bakkavor’s factory on Jessop Way in Newark was reported to the Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service at 4:36am.

Crews from Newark and Collingham fire station attended the conflagration, which had started in an industrial oven on the ground floor of the factory.

Four firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used hose reel jets to tackle the fire, before using a thermal imaging camera to identify and dampen down any hot spots.

No one was injured

The fire was extinguished by 6:20am, followed by a re-inspection of the site by a Newark firefighter at 8:00am. No one was injured in the fire.

Meanwhile, Gordon Rhodes & Son has begun manufacturing, less than nine days after a fire destroyed its warehouse in Bradford (Monday 21).

The company has sourced new production and warehousing units, equipment, ingredients and office space and has implemented a 24-hour-a-day production schedule to meet customer demand.

Senior director Ian Rhodes said the company had come back from the brink of disaster.

Brink of disaster

“To have orders being delivered to customers after only seven working days since the fire shows our customers that we will do anything to ensure that they receive the highest levels of customer service that they have come to expect from working with our company,”​ said Rhodes.

“Our suppliers have also been magnificent and without them we would not have achieved what we have so far. To get back to where we were before the fire will be a tough slog but if the last couple of weeks are anything to go by, we will rise to the challenge and be there in no time.”

Last week, a blaze at a cheese factory in south Wales was battled by fire crews,​ while elsewhere firefighters tackled a fire at a packaging plant.

Meanwhile, watch out for our report on the fire and explosion hazards of dust in the September edition of our sister title Food Manufacture.

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