North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service was alerted to the fire at Masons Yorkshire Gin’s Bedale site at 8:04 Tuesday morning (April 2). Upon arrival, firefighters found the building well alight, prompting crews to request further assistance from Leyburn, Ripon, Richmond and Stokesley fire stations.
A spokesman for the Fire & Rescue service said: “Crews were also mobilised with specialist equipment from Harrogate, Malton and Thirsk. Assistance was also given from Durham and Darlington Fire Service, with the attendance of their aerial ladder platform. The fire was extinguished using four main jets and three hose reels.”
Extinguished eight hours later
The fire was extinguished by 4:40pm, with two appliances remaining on-site to damp down using two hose reels.
Masons confirmed that none of the six members of staff who were on site were harmed in the blaze.
Owner Karl Mason told the local press that he was grateful to the distiller who alerted the rest of the staff to evacuate the site.
“I’m also grateful for the fire service. I hope there are no more fires in North Yorkshire today as all the firefighters seem to be here,” he added. Mason declined to comment on the cause of the fire.
Producing since 2013
Established in 2013, Masons moved to the Bedale site two years ago and currently employs about 40 members of staff.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, fire and rescue crews were called to Bakkavor’s Wigan factory last month after a gas leak hospitalised 10 members of staff and forced the evacuation of the site.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus isolated the leak from inside of the building and worked closely with on-site engineers to monitor and isolate further systems. Fire crews left the factory at 11.30pm.
