A Redruth firm has helped rescue the world famous Brooklands Museum in Surrey when it found itself under a foot of water at Christmas after heavy downpours caused the River Wey to burst its banks.
The insurers put a desperate call through to Richfords Fire & Flood’s Redruth HQ on Boxing Day to get crews to start dewatering the museum buildings and then to dry them out.
The flooding came just ahead of a major event at the site planned for New Year’s Day. Up to 1,000 vehicles and 5,000 visitors were expected. The owners were anxious to get the museum back into a state where the rally could go-ahead.
The museum is a collection of buildings built next to the racetrack where Sir Malcolm Campbell built many of his ‘Bluebirds’ which then went on to set land speed records. It also holds an important collection of vehicles and aircraft, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Concorde.
Michael Cooper, who was in charge of the recovery operation, said: “Some of the buildings had to be pumped out with our submersible equipment to drop the water level. On top of that, we have been carrying out a major cleaning and sanitisation project at the same time. Lastly, we have brought in dehumidifiers to dry out the affected buildings.”
This comes at a time when Richfords Fire and Flood is already carrying out many other operations in its home territory of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.
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