AROUND 10,000 wooden pallets were destroyed in a huge blaze in West Devon last week. Fire crews were quickly alerted to the fire last Friday, at the Complete Pallet Company?s site at Ottery Business Park, just outside Tavistock, which saw all the company?s stock go up in smoke. Fire crews from across the region attended the incident after they first received calls just before 3.30pm. It took more than four hours to extinguish the blaze. Colin Shaw from Bere Alston Firestation said: ?There were about 30 firemen using four pumps. They were from Bere Alston, Callington, Yelverton, Camels Head in Plymouth, and a water bowser from Plympton. There was also an incident control vehicle all the way from Totnes, it came out due to the number of people there. ?It was quite a large fire by local standards. ?Apparently the fire only slightly damaged the buildings because the pallets were outside. The fire is being investigated, as the cause is still unknown.? The fire quickly burned through the wooden pallets, which were stacked in piles of up to fifteen feet outside the main warehouse, with smoke being visible for several miles around. Four powerful hoses were used by the fire crews to try and dampen the fire, and although it was brought under control, it still destroyed all the pallets and caused damage to the building. Dave McDowall, who owns the Complete Pallet Company, which he has been building up over the past four years, said: ?All the machinery survived, although I?ve run out of pallets. Everyone was fine and everyone is back today (Monday). We?re just trying to cope as best we can. ?We have no idea how it started.? For the Complete Pallet Company, the fire has been extremely damaging to immediate business and the orders that they need to complete in the short run will be difficult to meet, although Mr McDowall said he was sure his team was capable of meeting all demands. The cause behind the fire remains to be discovered.
