'Business as usual' says Kingswinford firm after devastating blaze destroys warehouse on site
A Kingswinford business has said it will be business as usual on Friday despite a devastating blaze which destroyed a warehouse on its site.
Garland Products said the blaze, which started in the early hours of Thursday had gutted an overflow warehouse, which housed mainly cardboard and plastic raw material plus a small proportion of finished stock.
The huge fire left the building ruined and caused ongoing transport disruption.
It broke out at the unit on Pensnett Trading Estate on First Avenue in the early hours of Thursday morning, with around 60 firefighters and 12 engines from across the region battle called at around 4am.
The severity of the fire meant that all gates to the trading estate were closed as crews continued to work on the fire, with cars from West Midlands Police also visible at entrances.
On Thursday evening a statement from Garland Products, which specialises in the manufacture of plastic injection moulded products for the garden industry, said: "We can confirm that we suffered a serious fire in the smallest of three industrial units on The Pensnett Estate in Kingswinford in the early hours of the morning on 30th November. Thankfully we can confirm that no-one was injured in the incident.
"The unit where the fire occurred was used as an overflow warehouse and housed mainly cardboard and plastic raw material plus a small proportion of finished stock. The unit did not contain any production machinery, so we are thankful that there will be only a limited operational impact on the business. "Our factory and main warehouse will be fully operational again on Friday 1st December, although the overflow warehouse in question has been destroyed by the fire.
"Garland Products would like to thank West Midlands Fire Service for their speed and professionalism in bringing the fire under control."
National Express West Midlands said the fire stopped it getting buses into service, with the operator having a depot elsewhere on the estate.
While disruption was caused early on, a National Express West Midlands spokeswoman later said: "As at 1pm, National Express West Midlands services 2, 2A, 6, 7, 9, 11/11A, 14, 19, 24, 126 & X10 are now operating their routes as close to schedule as possible.
"We'd like to thank customers for their patience as we recover from this morning's disruption to services caused by a fire at Pensnett Trading Estate."
It was later reported by National Express West Midlands that the services were able to start up again following the disruption and was operating as close to schedule as possible.
