Bognor Regis Herald — Fire Service report re Esplanade Fire on 20 Nov 2016
by Jan Cosgrove
I have now had an email from West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service with copy of the statutory report completed re the fire which gutted the former Mud Club last November and destroyed the Beach Cafe. The club itseld has been derelict for some years, but the restaurant was operating. I have posted the information to the What Do They Know? freedom of information web site.
The report shows the fire was reported by a member of the public in the early hours of 20th November and took over 24 hours to contain, a member of the public made the report. The report shows a person was rescued, though this was not reported at the time in the media so far as I can tell. It was not a chimney fire nor was it “multi-seated”. There was damage to compartmentation, the fire did not start in the roof space, nor is the cause of ignition known, nor what ignited. The internal fittings caused the main spread of the fire.
The restaurant was on the ground floor, the report says the fire started on the floor above, the first floor which was unoccupied and derelict. So the assumption that it was caused from within the restaurant appears not to be borne out. I have had comments that the former Mud Club had sound electrics and minimal fittings were left inside from people who accessed within the past 24/36 months.
Arun Council has not given me an accurate reply to my original freedom of information to them and I am revisiting their answers armed with this detail from WSFRS. I find it extremely concerning that an enquiry re such a serious occurrence has been given such a shoddy reply by Arun, it is simply unacceptable. My concerns as a Councillor are to establish who owns the property, to whom it is/was leased, was there a sub-lease re the Cafe and when did the Cafe lease expire, and was it subject to Landlord and Tenant Act standard provisions or was this exempted?
We know Arun did NOT carry out its own enquiries re the fire, one would think that its origin in an unoccupied part of the site might prompt questions, as to the fire safety regime that was in place, testing of that system in an unoccupied premises which surely would have been required as a lease condition re the whole premises on a regular, statutorily-defined basis or of Arun itself if there was no lease existing re the former Mud Club premises area.
