10:27am Thursday 25th June 2009
By Jess Childs
THE people at the heart of tackling the fire that tore through a Leominster factory last week have been praised for avoiding a major disaster.
Skymark, a packaging firm in Southern Avenue, was gutted by the blaze in the early hours of Wednesday, June 17.
“We were all deeply shocked by the fire and I want to thank the fire service, police and the council for doing such a tremendous job keeping my constituents safe and for getting the fire under control,” said Bill Wiggin, MP for Leominster.
“Our local community has come together and displayed admirable strength and unity.”
Leominster Mayor Richard Westwood added that he was very impressed with how Herefordshire Council’s emergency planning team went into action.
Bridge Street Sports Centre was open to accommodate those who lived near the fire. Ian Baker, the council’s rest centre manager for the day, paid particular praise to St John Ambulance.
“They were fabulous, I could trust them absolutely to support the council in running the centre in terms of both administration and welfare,” he said.
HALO chief executive Jon Argent said he would be writing to every member of staff who helped out on the day.
Meanwhile, Minster College has been initially reassured by examiners that estimated grades will be accepted for students who missed out on taking GCSEs and A-levels last Wednesday when the school closed.
“We have been told that it won’t disadvantage the students and we are hopeful that the situation will be resolved,” said principal Adrian Long.
■ Herefordshire Primary Care Trust and Herefordshire Council say ash from the fire is no risk to health if handled appropriately.
“We’re satisfied that there is no immediate hazard to the general public following air quality monitoring by the Environment Agency,” said Paul Nicholas, the council’s assistant director for environment and culture.
“As the Skymark building was relatively new, there has been no report that asbestos would have been in the building.”
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