Stafford horror blast inspires new training complex
It was a fire that obliterated the front of a Stafford home, showering bricks and bits of glass onto the street.
Now the blast at 93 Marston Road in 2013 has inspired a new training facility in the county as it emerged that firefighters were not prepared for what happened on the day.
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service has submitted plans for a new three-storey complex at its Pirehill headquarters in Stone which will be made out of shipping containers.
It will provide training in search, extinguishing fires and rescue casualty scenarios in multi storey buildings.
The authority has stated it was 'lucky' there were no deaths on September 9 two years ago when the blast hit after a father and son were evacuated as well as neighbours.
Although the incident did claim the life of a dog at the property.
It took 35 firefighters to tackle in total but four were caught in the backdraught which destroyed the front of the home.
Planning documents, setting out the need for the new complex, lists Marston Road as an example where additional training was needed.
The facility has also been inspired from a blaze at a block of high rise flats in Stevenage in 2005 which killed two firefighters and a member of the public as well as another fire at a maisonette in Southampton in 2010 which claimed the lives of two servicemen and injured two others.
The plans state: "The design of the facility has been determined by the training requirement identified specifically in an Incident Safety Event Case Review in Staffordshire and also in the coroner's reports from Fatal Fire Investigations in Hertfordshire and Hampshire, as well as many other incidents involving the tragic deaths of both Fire-fighters and members of the public."
The new three level building would enable 'search, extinguish and recover' training.
It would also be kitted out with state-of-the art monitoring systems to ensure the safety of firefighters during drills.
On the back of the three blazes the building has been designed in particular to recreate fires in basements, maisonettes and multi-level apartments such as high-rises where firefighters will have to tackle going up and down stairwells.
The report states: "Having a minimum of three levels enables all of these training scenarios to be realistically covered with real fire and heat, and to enable training in the chimney effect on fire and smoke in stairwells associated with ventilation - both deliberate and uncontrolled.
"The design of the container-based building enables total flexibility in the training that can be provided – from small compartmentalised fires over three levels, to larger open-plan areas which simulate warehouse/industrial unit fires."
The plans have been lodged with Stafford Borough Council.
