A4074 closed after fire rips through boatshed

A BOATSHED and workshop was badly damaged in a fire which caused a major road to be closed.

Fire crews were called to the building at Benson Marina next to the A4074 shortly after 4am on Friday.

Witnesses said they saw flames at least 30ft high coming out of the boatshed, which is owned by Le Boat, a boat hire company with around 20 boats in the marina.

The building is also home to three other businesses, AB Boats, Bouja and HC Angling.

The road was closed by Thames Valley Police due to the large amount of smoke from the fire.

Fire crews from both Oxfordshire and Berkshire were sent to tackle the blaze and they prevented it from spreading to nearby boats and rental chalets.

Eddie Laxton, who lives in the chalet closest to the workshop, said: “The fire engines getting here and the sound of crackling woke us all up.

“It was a damn serious fire. The flames were about 30 or 40 feet high. It was really hot.

“I’ve never seen so many fire engines — there were six or seven. They couldn’t get access because the electric entry gates were locked.

“We’ve all got zappers but they were jammed because the power went out at about 4am. They remained shut for about an hour and a half. They closed the road for five hours and three engines were on the road with their hoses coming through the hedge, fighting it from the other side.”

He said some posts that seal off a car park between the boatshed and the neighbouring Waterfront Café lift up so one fire engine got round to the front of the building until the gates had been opened.

Mr Laxton, an author and retired journalist, said: “We were all trapped here with our possessions: 23 lodges, another six for hire, the campsite with caravans and motorhomes. We couldn’t get out.”

He said the roof of the building contained asbestos and had been damaged in storms last winter.

“We had to tell the firefighters straight away that they were dealing with asbestos and on went the masks,” said Mr Laxton.

“We were wondering whether we were going to be evacuated.

“It must have taken the fire brigade 30 minutes to get on top of the fire. They put a pump in the river and were fighting the fire with river water. It was quite handy because the river is high at the moment.

“The firefighters were still here mid-afternoon on Saturday. They were damping down for a long while. When they stopped, smoke started coming out of the building again so they carried on pouring water inside.”

Kieron Farmer, head chef at the Waterfront Café, arrived at 8.15am.

He said the flames had subsided by then, although the fire continued until about 11.30am.

“The smoke was still quite bad”, said Mr Fletcher. “They had a crane and went inside the shed and used a hose.

“There were people from SSE to switch off the electricity. They had to cut off power to other buildings to isolate which power line went to which building.

“There is smoke damage and water damage in the building. They will have lost a lot of business.

“We had no power from 8am until 1pm and lost a lot of trade, even though we were open until 4pm.”

He said the asbestos clean-up was completed by a specialist company on Sunday, adding: “It meant the outside had to be shut for two days.”

The power was back on at the chalets by 2pm on Saturday.

The damaged building has been taped off.

A spokesman for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Three fire appliances were initially sent from Watlington, Goring and Didcot.

“Upon arrival, crews found a single storey building well alight and requested additional crews, which came from Slade (Oxford), Abingdon and across the border from Reading. A hydraulic platform was also requested from Rewley Road (Oxford).

“Wearing breathing apparatus and using four main jets, crews quickly extinguished the fire and prevented it from spreading to any of the nearby boats or rental chalets.

“Because of the extent of the smoke, the A4074 was closed by colleagues from Thames Valley Police.”

A Le Boat spokeswoman said: “Le Boat regrets to confirm that a fire occurred at the Le Boat base in Benson, resulting in damage to the on-site workshop.

“No members of staff or the public were injured and no boats were damaged.

“Health and safety is Le Boat’s number one priority we are supporting the relevant authorities with their enquiries.

“While enquiries are carried out, Le Boat is unable to comment on the cause of the fire or the losses as a result.

“We are are supporting our staff and customers at this difficult time.”