Blaze tears through former Abergele nursing home

Jun 25 2008 by Martin Williams, Rhyl Visitor

ABERGELE residents are in shock after a horrific blaze decimated a former nursing home in the early hours of Friday morning.

More than 50 firefighters battled for almost three hours to bring the Gainsborough House blaze under control.

Nine fire appliances attended the St George’s Road incident from St Asaph, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Conwy and Prestatyn.

The blaze has caused considerable damage to the property, which is believed to have been in the process of being converted into flats.

An investigation has been launched into the cause of ignition, and it has since emerged that the suspected arson attack happened despite a watchman being on-site.

Mayor Ron Peacock spoke to the Visitor this week.

“I was notified of the fire immediately, but due to the intensity of it wasn’t able to go down there. It seems that it’s looking very bad for the building but no more information will be available until after the investigation,” said Cllr Peacock.

Kevin Roberts was incident commander at the scene, and although the cause has not yet been determined, he took the opportunity to highlight the extreme importance of ensuring that empty buildings are left completely secure.

“Insecure buildings present massive risks to us and to the other emergency services as the buildings generally attract trespassers who tend to drink and smoke inside,” said Mr Roberts.

“More often than not, our firefighters are called to tackle fires which break out and this of course puts their safety and that of others at great risk, when in essence it could so easily be avoided.”

This incident follows the Grange Hotel fire on Rhyl’s seafront in March, in which the disused Grade II building suffered severe fire damage and remains boarded-up and empty.

Read next week’s edition for community reaction to the Gainsborough House blaze.

For more on this story, visit www.abergelevisitor.co.uk