Burger King Fire – Senior firefighter says it was a difficult job as the investigation into the cause continues

Burger King at Clifton Moor in York has been gutted by the fire that swept through the building yesterday and an investigation into the cause is now underway.

Station Manager Bob Hoskins of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has been telling the YorkMix Radio Late Show (Weekdays at Midnight and on Listen Again) that it was a tricky blaze to put out, especially given the amount of combustible material on site like cooking oils.

Witnesses told YorkMix that there was the smell of burnt beef burgers in the air.

Flames shot through the restaurant and smoke could be seen for miles.

You can see more video in yesterday’s article on YorkMix.

Station Manager Bob Hoskins told YorkMix:

“When I arrived at the scene, the fire had taken hold in the roof void and we’d had to withdraw crews with breathing apparatus at that point because the roof was starting to collapse.

“So fire fighting operations took place from outside the building and we had to get enough water in to deal with it too.”

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“We also got a number of special appliances in along with an aerial ladder platform, so could fight the fire from above. But we decided that it was best to get the water bowser in from Tadcaster. That was because otherwise we’d have got an awful lot of hoses out across the shopping complex car park.”

Mr Hoskins, Station Manager at York Fire Station, said the fire investigation officer has been looking at the seat of the fire and examining the remains and searching for the evidence to identify what the cause was.

“It did take hold very quickly and was very strong. Obviously in a restaurant of that sort you’ve got the the vats of oils, you know that the cook the food and lots of things behind the scenes that are that are flammable, which will add to the intensity of the fire.”

The building has been virtually destroyed by the fire

Bob Hoskins added: “So overnight into Friday we’ve left one fire appliance checking for hotspots. We put some fencing up and police maintained a presence at the incident through the night.

“Our appliance will just keep returning at periodic times throughout the night to make sure there’s no smaller hotspots that are trying to take hold again. And then we’ll hand over to the the owners then to assess the building and decide what they they’re going to do with it.