Castleford bathroom business destroyed by blaze that saw 50 firefighters at scene set to reopen in amazing turnaround

Trade Bathroom and Tiles Ltd on Saville Road will be opening its doors this weekend after almost of year of work to rebuild following the fire last year. The company, which has been in business for 26 years, was gutted following the blaze, which was triggered by a lithium battery in a tool that was charging overnight.

Owners Sandra and Paul Marchington said they will never forget that night, on April 28, when they were called by crews from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) in the early hours of the morning.

“We received a call just after 1.30am from the fire brigade asking us to come down to the showroom – and we knew it wasn’t good news,” said Sandra. “We live 15 minutes away and as we drove there we could see the smoke and flames. The end of the road was closed off and there were fire engines all over the place. They had cut the shutters to get into the building, and 50 of them were busy fighting the fire when we arrived.”

Fire crews managed to get the fire under control in the afternoon and left the site at 7pm. The cause of the fire was also established due to one area of the showroom being particularly hot. Sandra said: “We were told 100 per cent of the building was affected and so we knew nothing could be salvaged.

“You could see a scorch mark which had started in one area and this was definitely the hottest spot. We were told it was the workshop, where we have rechargeable tools. We were recharging the tools in the evening ready for the next day, one had exploded and that one battery brought five units down. When the fire was out the firefighters actually found the component that had caused the fire – it was unbelievable.”

After the fire Sandra and Paul put a plan in place, notifying customers and making sure every order was fulfilled. She said: “Since then we have taken it one day at a time and totally rebuilt the premises. We gutted the building, there was no roof or walls, but thankfully the brickwork was safe.”

The business has its official opening on Saturday (February 11) which is when the public will be able to look around the new site.

Sandra said: “With the support and encouragement from family, friends, customers and of course hard work from our team we are excited to finally have the doors open and welcome the public back into our showroom.”

The horrific blaze last year saw crews attend from stations across West Yorkshire, as well as the technical rescue unit and aerial support.

Dave Walton, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, said that there has been an increase in fires caused by lithium batteries – which can be found in e-bikes, mobile phones and vaping devices. He said: “The public need to be aware of the dangers as lithium is highly flammable. People need to be careful when charging these batteries and to ensure they are recycled properly and not disposed of with general household waste.”