Serious fire at Clandon Park (National Trust property)

[John Webb]

A serious fire occurred on Weds at Clandon Park, a C18 mansion near Guilford. Some information at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/article-1355894945049/ although no cause yet announced.

[Auntie LIn]

Thanks for posting about this John and giving the link to the NT site.   It seems to me really unfortunate that the news of the fire sits absolutely alongside one of the headings for the different parts of the website that is called..............

what we protect!

I could be cheeky and say if that's protection what do they do for properties which are unprotected.

[AnthonyB]

It illustrates the difficulties in heritage fire protection, particularly in relation to compartmentation. It appears that the premises met the requirements of the RRO, there was a rapid alarm, effective evacuation and even non statutory property protection was achieved to a degree due to the operation of a pre-panned salvage procedure.

The cause of the fire is of interest as in situations like this, where property protection is difficult to achieve, prevention is better than cure!

[Mike Buckley]

One of the major problems with heritage buildings is that frequently the preservation of the building depends on the lack of compartmentation, in that the air needs to circulate throughout the building to prevent rot etc. The end result is that when a fire starts it can spread throughout the building.

However the positive result was the well rehearsed salvage plan.