Severe Heinz fire halts Aunt Bessie’s production
A fire service spokesman told FoodManufacture.co.uk that the fire, which caused severe damage at the £60m turnover Westwick facility, began in an industrial fat fryer. Crews were called to the site at 6pm and left at midday on Saturday May 7.
He said 90-100 firefighters from across the county used foam, breathing apparatus and an aerial ladder platform to tackle a “well developed fire” in a 100x100m square building, with relief crews deployed throughout the night.
The spokesman added that the blaze flared-up again just after midnight on May 7, due to the building’s ‘sandwich panel’ construction, which comprises plastic coated steel with a filling of highly combustible polyurethane.
50-60 staff were onsite at the time of the fire – out of a workforce of 200 full-time employees – but all were safely evacuated and no-one was injured.
An Aunt Bessie’s spokeswoman told FoodManufacture.co.uk that Heinz had licensed the firm’s name to produce a range of frozen potato products, including roast potatoes, chips and mashed potatoes.
She was unable to say whether the fire would affect supplies to customers.
Minimise customer impact
Describing the incident as a "major fire", a Heinz spokesman said it was largely confined to one production area. "The fire investigation, which is being carried out jointly by Norfolk Fire & Rescue Service and Heinz, is now underway and is likely to take several days.
"Safety is always of paramount concern to Heinz and production of Aunt Bessie’s frozen potato products will not resume until a full assessment can be made of the incident.
"We are taking all possible actions to minimise the impact on customers and consumers, and have a senior management team in place managing every aspect of our full recovery plan."
Heinz has invested heavily in Westwick in recent years, and factory manager Mike Ehterington told this publication last October that Heinz had spent £10.8m on the site from 2007 as part of ‘Project Trafalgar’.
He added that further efficiency improvements in 2010 saw new potato cutting and direct packing equipment introduced, as well as a new blancher.
As of last Octover, the factory produced 52,000t of produce a year, including Aunt Bessie's branded Roast Potatoes, Chips, Wedges, Croquettes and Mid Week Mini Roasties.
