Update on Pleasington Crematorium fire

Following the fire that broke out at Pleasington Crematorium around 11.20am on Thursday 8 June, here are some key facts to explain what we know at this stage.

• The fire service attended swiftly and were on site for around 3 hours and 45 minutes.

 

• A service was taking place at the time of the fire, and the family had to be evacuated and the service halted. The funeral directors took the deceased back to the funeral home.

 

• We are very grateful for the family of the deceased for their understanding. We are reimbursing their cremation service costs, and will speak to them about further compensation.

 

• One cremation service scheduled for later on Thursday had to be cancelled, and another five services on Friday – we contacted funeral directors as quickly as possible to allow them to notify families affected.

 

• All services scheduled for w/c 12 June have also been cancelled via funeral directors. UPDATE Services scheduled for w/c 19 June are also being cancelled.

 

• We know that the fire started in or around an outdoor storage compound next to the cremation room, which houses the two cremator machines. We are awaiting the Fire Inspection Officer’s report which will tell us more about how the fire started.

 

• Neither of the cremator machines were switched on at the time the fire started.

 

• Two other rooms within the crematorium building – the plant room and the chapel itself – have only smoke damage.

 

• Heras fencing has been put up around the storage area at the back of the crematorium, to make the building secure.

 

• Manufacturers of the cremator machinery attended the site on the evening of Thursday 8 June and again on Friday 9 June to inspect the damage. They think that both machines can be repaired – we are awaiting further details of the repairs needed and the timescales.

 

• In addition to the repairs to cremator machinery, other works are needed such as a complete refurbishment of the cremation room, and extensive cleaning work including to curtains and carpets in the chapel.

 

• Any burials already scheduled are unaffected and can go ahead as planned.

 

Our Strategic Director of Environment & Operations Martin Eden has recorded this video message as we know lots of people have questions about yesterday’s fire.

 

Martin Eden, Strategic Director of Environment & Operations, said:

Unfortunately a service was taking place as the fire alarm was raised. The family have been absolutely brilliant. They were understandably upset, but very co-operative.

We’ve had to cancel all of next week’s cremation services, via local funeral directors. We’ve got a great relationship with our funeral directors so they’ve been supporting families and booking cremation facilities in other areas around Blackburn with Darwen.

Based on the engineer’s inspections last night and today, I am really hopeful that the cremation service will be back up and running in a matter of weeks, rather than months.

We’ll be in contact with our funeral directors and hopefully we’ll be able to give them a date fairly soon as to when we will reopen.