‘Devastating’ fire at Specialized U.K. HQ

Zimmerframe

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[Rob edit - added confirmed info]:

Specialized’s UK head of marketing, Kirsty Woodcock told Cycling Weekly: “Last night, we were notified that a fire had affected our UK headquarters in Chessington. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but sadly the fire has had a devastating effect to our offices. There will be some short-term changes to certain business operations, but our warehouse is located elsewhere and riders should not be concerned.”

A source, who did not want to be named, but was at the scene told Cycling Weekly: “From what I saw the place is gutted.”




The heat maps look like it probably started next door, but looks like there's a good chance it might have spread :(

Lots hope no one is injured, staff, firefighters.

Screenshot 2021-02-07 at 12.00.04.png
 
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Rob Rides EMTB

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And from the Get Surrey article:

What was on fire?

The latest official update we have is that two warehouse units, each over two floors, were affected by the fire.
 

Rob Rides EMTB

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As Zim said, hope everyone is safe and no one was harmed. Looks to be a significant blaze from the reports.

Drone image heat map from London FB. Specialized is the end unit.

25DDFFBF-55C0-4BBF-8749-4F0AFC3EBE35.jpeg
 
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Zimmerframe

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Drone image heat map from London FB. Specialized is the end unit.
Looks like the hottest part at that point was the rearward of the nearest of the two "hot" units. The roof there has also deformed quite considerably.

In the parking area out the front, you can see the super heated water streams on the ground before they go down the drains along the edge of the road.

Sadly, it looks like it spread quite considerably to the specialzied unit, especially the upper floor - presumably through the roof area.

The majority of the hot water is coming from the first units loading bay doors, though it must be pretty hot in the specialized unit for that amount of hot water to be coming out from their smaller loading bay door. (I don't know the unit, so I'm only guessing that's theirs from what I see on google).

You can see the cold water fire hose on the left of the image.

And you can see a fire truck in the back corner which has recently arrived having had rapid journey looking at the heat coming from the engine and brakes !
 

Zimmerframe

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Hopefully the reason was not EMTB related.
Well, it looks like it started next door to Spesh .. But who knows, neighbours could get discount demo bikes and have a stash in there.

Looking at the haphazard parking outside, I'd say someone was having a private after hours weed fest party, having arrived half cut, and set the place alight. :unsure: ;)

Uhmmm... not sure where the units split ? anyone more familiar ?

That's a Spesh van outside the large covered loading bay (this side of all the aircon/heat exchangers). But the Spesh sign is near the further loading bay.

spesh.jpg
 

R120

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"Specialized’s UK head of marketing, Kirsty Woodcock told Cycling Weekly: “Last night, we were notified that a fire had affected our UK headquarters in Chessington. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but sadly the fire has had a devastating effect to our offices. There will be some short-term changes to certain business operations, but our warehouse is located elsewhere and riders should not be concerned.”
 

Neeko DeVinchi

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Flipping heck, 2021 better not be the year of omen!!
Next thing you know, Google will cut ties with all Zigbee protocol appliances (well, it was fun whilst it lasted Philips Hue).
Seriously though, I'm glad no one was hurt. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be a Grenfell Tower fiasco.
 

EuanS2

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I hope everyone gout out safely! you cant help but feel sorry for everyone that this is going to effect, from all the staff and suppliers to all the customers, just a terrible situation all round
 

Timn1243

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As Zim said, hope everyone is safe and no one was harmed. Looks to be a significant blaze from the reports.

Drone image heat map from London FB. Specialized is the end unit.

View attachment 52312
Very difficult to go off this image where the fire would have started. The TIC will pick up different indications of heat patterns, but this will all be dependent on when this image was taken, and also what the extent of water applied. Seeing that there at least two aerials in attendance it has been going a while. Water application can also show warm as it would be heated up from the fire pumps.
 

Specialized Rider Care

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@Specialized Rider Care wishing you all the best, glad that all are safe - but absolutely gutted that this has happened for you all.

Thanks @Rob Rides EMTB (and others) - we spoke to the UK team this morning and they really appreciate the kind words & good vibes being sent their way. It has been a tough weekend for them.

To echo Kirsty's statement - "Thankfully, no one was hurt, but sadly the fire had a devastating effect to our offices. While there will be short-term changes to certain business operations in the UK, our warehouse is located elsewhere and therefore, our operations for riders and retailers are not impacted. We are working closely with the authorities to understand more about what happened."

@galaga187 we are keeping everything crossed that those treasured 'museum' bikes will be ok. As we know more on that front we'll let you know ;)
 

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