The Royal Clarence Fire: 2 years on

Fire Service release long awaited report

2 years on from a fire which destroyed the historic Royal Clarence Hotel, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue has released a report into what happened. 

More than 1,100 firefighters were involved in the incident which lasted 10 days and cost the service £250,000. 

The report looks at the spread of the fire, the response to it and the impact on businesses around it. 

It says the fire was initially battled from the outside, because it was too dangerous to go in. 1 crew did check bedrooms, but once all the hotel guests were accounted for, they decided to fight the fire from outside. 

The reported repeatedly mentions "voids and other channels" which allowed the fire to spread quickly. It says: 

"A significant challenge faced by the crews was that the hotel had grown in size over many years prior to the building and fire safety regulations that we know today. The hotel had acquired a number of surrounding buildings within its history and had grown through adding walkways, coverings and essentially joining the buildings together. This led to many hidden voids being created and covered up by the internal walls and decoration"

It goes on to say: "This was an exceptional and unfortunate incident and there is no evidence to show that the management and staff of the RCH could have done anything more, and due to their actions there were no injuries to the guests. This was formally recognised and the staff members received the Chief Fire Officer’s Certificate of Commendation for their actions on the night of the 28th October 2016"

The 50 page report includes a detailed timeline of events, history of the buildings involved and legislation. It makes a number of recommendations, including a review at Government level to decide if an amendment is required to notify the local Fire & Rescue Service of buildings under construction which can pose significant risk to firefighters when responding to reports of fires within the premises.

The full report is here.