A homeless person keeping warm has been blamed for an accidental fire that broke out at the former Bowyers factory site in Trowbridge on Boxing Day.
Eight fire crews from Trowbridge, Westbury, Melksham, Bath, Devizes and Warminster attended the incident at around 8pm on Monday 26 December.
Trowbridge firefighters were said to have extinguished the fire using nine breathing apparatus, two hose reel jets, one covering jet and positive pressure ventilation.
A unnamed source told Wiltshire 999s that “a number of homeless people take shelter in the former factory buildings and light fires to keep warm”.
The building was empty when fire crews arrived on scene and the small ground floor fire was put out within ten minutes.
Trowbridge Watch Manager Neil Hiscock told the Wiltshire Times: “Someone was staying overnight in the back room of the ground floor and they must have lit a fire to keep warm, which then caught alight and spread – they definitely were not supposed to be there.
“The building was completely smoke logged but the fire was quite small. We do not know who it was as there was nobody there.”
