Seven fire crews tackle coffee factory blaze

The fire at the factory, which is now owned by coffee producer Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), was reported at 6:31am last Friday and was attended by crews from the Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.

JDE corporate affairs director Lindsay Wright told FoodManufacture.co.uk that the fire had started in one of the bean roasters.

“In accordance with company safety protocols, the local fire brigade was called and the fire was quickly contained,” ​said Wright.

“Due to the nature of the coffee roasting process, JDE has a number of safety protocols in place across all sites designed to quickly contain these types of isolated incidents. ​

‘No one was hurt’​

“As a result, the incident on Friday morning was managed without the need for a full site evacuation, no one was hurt and there was no impact to customer orders. ​

“The factory continued its operations throughout this period.”​

Fire crews used systems of valves and pipes known as ‘dry risers’ to access the higher floors and locate the fire in one of the coffee dryers. They activated sprinklers to douse the flames.

“This is a very complex site with systems in place to assist us when a fire occurs​,” said Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue group manager Rob MacDougall. “Our crews worked extremely hard in arduous conditions to limit any damage.”​

‘Tests the physical conditions’​

“Running out lengths of fire hose in full protective clothing is never easy but when this involves staircases and warm weather, it really tests the physical conditions of the crews. Everyone worked extremely hard.”​

JDE owns several coffee brands which it distributes worldwide, including Jacobs, Tassimo, Moccona and Senseo.

The company was formed in 2015 after the merger of D E Master Blenders 1753 and the coffee division of Mondelēz International.