Fire at Midsummer Energy warehouse in Whittlesford wrecks all stock on site
This is the aftermath of a fire that hit Midsummer Energy’s newest warehouse in Whittlesford in the early hours of Saturday morning (17 May), damaging or destroying all of the stock inside.
About 70 firefighters were called to the blaze in Mill Lane at 1.45am.
Ten fire engines, two aerial appliances, two water carriers and the incident command vehicle attended and, at its height, the fire engulfed an area of about 60m by 40m.
Midsummer Energy, a renewables wholesaler that supplies components to make up complete kits for solar panel and heat pump installations, said: “Although the fire service attended as soon as the alarm was given, the fire spread rapidly and they decided that due to the risk of building collapse they would not attempt to fight the fire but just contain it within the building. All stock within the building was destroyed or damaged by the fire.”
Residents, particularly those south of Mill Lane, were advised to keep their doors and windows closed for the day due to the smoke from the blaze, which was tackled by firefighters from Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Herts and Essex.
By 8am, the fire was controlled and the incident had been scaled back, with six fire engines and an aerial appliance, all from Cambridgeshire, remaining at the scene.
And by 11am, just two fire engines remained on site and a Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “The fire is contained and the remainder is being allowed to now burn out in a controlled manner which may take several more hours. Crews will remain at the scene ensuring this is done safely. A fire investigation into the cause will take place once the fire is fully out and it is safe to do so.”
On Sunday, Andy Rankin, former climate scientist and Midsummer’s CEO, said: “We are incredibly grateful that no one was harmed during the incident and wish to express our deepest thanks to Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service for their swift and courageous response in bringing the blaze under control. We understand the impact the fire has had on the local community and are doing everything we can to minimise any further disruption.
“The safety of our staff, and the continuity of service to our customers and suppliers remain our top priorities. Our team is working tirelessly to assess the extent of the damage and implement contingency plans. Stock and operations are being redirected through Midsummer’s other warehouse locations in Cambridge, Milton, and Glasgow to ensure continued fulfilment of customer orders. We thank our customers and suppliers for their patience and support during this challenging time.”
Midsummer Energy said the company would keep customers informed via its website and social media channels.
On its website, it told customers that some divisions of the business will be more affected than others.
The company said: “Solar and storage orders will be mostly unaffected, as these are mainly despatched from our warehouses at Coldhams Business Park in Cherry Hinton and Rutherglen, Glasgow. However, a small number of product lines were stored only at Whittlesford. Some orders will be delayed until we can get new stock in.
“Off-grid orders were despatched only from Whittlesford. We will revert to using our Milton warehouse for despatching offgrid stock, but it will take a few days to bring in new stock and make this operational. Some orders will be delayed in the meantime, but where possible we will dropship orders from other stockists so that customers are not impacted.
“Heat pump orders were primarily despatched from Whittlesford, but most lines of stock are replicated in Rutherglen and we expect to be able to despatch the majority of orders from there. There are some lines that were only stocked in Whittlesford where we will offer you an alternative product, dropship the order from another supplier, or delay the order until we can bring new stock in.
“We will work as quickly as we can to bring our smaller Milton warehouse back into operation to service heat pump orders. Until that is operational, orders to the south and west of England may take longer to arrive due to the transport distance from Rutherglen.
“Our sales staff are working hard to notify customers of any affected orders, and our purchasing and operations teams are doing all they can to be fully operational from other premises as soon as possible. We will do our very best to keep disruption to a minimum, but with a major incident of this nature some is unfortunately inevitable.
“Please don't hesitate to contact any member of our staff for further information, but please be aware that we expect our telephone lines and email inboxes to be busier than normal over the next few days.
“We very much appreciate your understanding if you are affected, and we are extremely grateful for the many kind and supportive messages we have already received from customers and suppliers.”
William Westley C of E Primary School, which lies off Mill Lane, was not affected.
