A fire investigation will begin this morning into the cause of a major blaze that destroyed a St Ives business last night.
The fire is understood to have originated in a seafood restaurant on Wharf Road. The alarm was first raised at 5.09pm.
The fire broke out in a seafood restaurant. Picture: Peter Stratton
@CornwallFRS say multiple vehicles in area around Lifeboat hill with 8 pumps on scene at the restaurant fire in #StIves. Crews from as far as Newquay, St Austell @FalmouthCFRS @StJustCFRS @TolvaddonCFR @PenzanceCFRS Thanks to Leo Walker for sharing these photos. pic.twitter.com/Y5GnZOvDkJ
— BBC Radio Cornwall (@BBCCornwall) December 4, 2020
Fire crews from St Ives, Penzance and Hayle were sent initially, but the severity of the flames meant that at one stage there were 12 fire appliances tackling the incident.
A Cornwall Fire and Rescue spokesperson said: "Soon after arriving at the property a request for ‘make pumps six’ was made and further appliances from Penzance and Perranporth were mobilised to the scene.
Thank you to all of the crews, officers @WorkshopsCFRS & our Critical Control teams who supported the fire incident within St Ives overnight. Thank you to colleagues @DC_Police @SWASFTHART @CornwallCouncil @WalesWestEnergy & the local community who helped to support the incident. pic.twitter.com/vCzclAMxhR
— Kathryn Billing (@KathrynBilling) December 5, 2020
"The incident escalated and at 10.20pm the request for ‘make pumps 12 and aerial ladder platforms two’ was made. "Appliances were mobilised to the scene from across the county, along with various supporting appliances and flexi duty officers."
Video: Peter Stratton
Specialist equipment brought in included aerial ladder platforms, incident command units, breathing apparatus support unit, a welfare vehicle and high volume pump.
An environmental response vehicle and the Red Cross Emergency Response vehicle were also brought in to support firefighters and others at the scene.
Bad fire in St Ives tonight. pic.twitter.com/wR7ZyYx0mZ
— Charlie Carroll (@CharlieCarroll1) December 4, 2020
A further six appliances were sent at 11pm, as relief pumps for those who had been battling the fire for six hours by that point. Crews from St Ives, Penzance, Hayle, Perranporth, Falmouth, St Just, Truro, Newquay, St Austell, Helston, St Dennis, Tolvaddon, Mevagissey, Wadebridge, Fowey, Bodmin and Padstow were involved in fighting the fire.
Other stations including Mullion, St Keverne and Polruan provided cover.
Hats off to the emergency service colleagues, dealing with this large scale incident.
— Rob Hosking (@RobHosking1) December 4, 2020
Any fire in St Ives provides significant challenges for the crews.
It could be a long night & my thoughts are with them all. pic.twitter.com/fePuGNqazn
The incident began scaling back not long after 2.30am and by 4.30am firefighters had entered the building wearing breathing apparatus and begun cutting away parts of it, and damping down.
A fire spokesperson said: "An initial fire investigation is to be carried out later today to identify the cause of the fire."
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