Fire at Cook’s Garden Centre nursery ‘accidental’
A fire at a Stourport garden nursery was started accidentally.
Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service say the fire, which caused clouds of black smoke over Bewdley Road North on Friday afternoon, has been concluded as “accidental”.
Crews from the Wyre Forest Hub, Droitwich and Stourbridge, plus a water carrier from Leominster, were sent to battle the fire, which took place at a nursery building owned by Cook’s Garden Centre at around 3.30pm.
The fire was extinguished using two hosereel jets and by four firefighters using breathing apparatus.
Police and ambulance also attended and two male casualties, aged around 20 and 50, believed to be suffering from smoke inhalation, were handed over to the ambulance service.
Cook’s say the fire was confined to the check-out area and a nearby glasshouse, which was completely destroyed in the blaze, and said no one was injured.
Posting on social media over the weekend, Cook’s said the worst part of the fire was that it destroyed a gold medal-winning Chelsea Flower Show stand.
The post said: “The worst part of the fire is that our gold medal winning Chelsea Flower Show stand has been totally destroyed.
“It was a stand that had gained us at least 10 gold medals plus other awards.
“Looks like we will have to come up with a new one for next year’s shows.”
The garden centre is open as normal, and reported stock loss was “minimal”.
Another post read: “Thank you everybody for your kind comments after [the] fire at the nursery and thank you to our wonderful fire service which quickly controlled the blaze.
“You can see it was confined to our open day check out area and the glasshouse which is now totally lost.
“Do not fear – it will all be rebuilt in time for open days next year.”
