• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
East Anglia Bylines
  • HOME
  • News
    • All
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Health
    • Welfare
    • World
    Cycling.

    Thirty for 30 – how to reduce your carbon footprint

    Oven ready social care plan

    AgeUK and ‘People at the heart of care’

    The UK Youth Parliament

    Should sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds be given the vote?

    Shopping for bargains.

    Savvy tips for cutting your food bill

    Templefields House

    ‘Big Bits of Ash Falling from the Sky’: What happens when your home is on an industrial estate and a warehouse fire breaks out?

    Urkrainian refugees at Warsaw Station

    The Homes for Ukraine scheme: really not “world-beating”

    Pirogov-emergency-team

    Norfolk help for the casualties of war

    A group of international students

    After Brexit: another lost opportunity for young people

    Dentist at work

    Emergency! Dental treatment in lockdown

    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Opinion
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    Pylons at Aldringham, Suffolk

    Shock as National Grid proposes 180km of new pylons across East Anglia

    Houses of Parliament

    Democracy and lack of accountability

    Cambridge Europe Day Fete

    Europe Day fête in Cambridge on 14 May

    Three Steampunks

    Imagining other worlds: steampunk in East Anglia

    Smiling Baby

    Twenty years: a staggering difference in life chances

    Shopping for bargains.

    Savvy tips for cutting your food bill

    Templefields House

    ‘Big Bits of Ash Falling from the Sky’: What happens when your home is on an industrial estate and a warehouse fire breaks out?

    Urkrainian refugees at Warsaw Station

    The Homes for Ukraine scheme: really not “world-beating”

    River Deben, Woodbridge

    Rivers have rights: national day of protests against sewage dumping

    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • All
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    Sugar beet

    As farmers suffer, is government’s sugar sell-out just to keep Tory donors sweet?

    Preston bus station

    Community wealth building

    Stansted Airport

    Are plans for Stansted Airport signs of a changing world?

    Snape

    The Ore and the Alde: smugglers, a merman and the home of seaside chic

    The Studio, Elstree

    Was dirty Russian money washed in a Herts public lavatory?

    Ukraine border boxes

    Freedom Boxes and Freedom Buses

    Sunak's wife claims to be non-domiciled

    Is the Chancellor’s wife really a non-dom?

    Rishi Sunak budget

    The economic and political consequences of Rishi Sunak’s failure

    Energy producer profits set to increase 40 fold due to energy price increases

    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • All
    • Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
    Duncan Baker

    Council leader appeals to MP to clean up politics for good after claimed death threats

    Norfolk County Hall

    EXCLUSIVE: shocking coup by Norfolk’s Tories

    Pylons at Aldringham, Suffolk

    Shock as National Grid proposes 180km of new pylons across East Anglia

    Mr Pecksniff (Social Media)

    Pecksniff’s Diary

    Cambridge Europe Day Fete

    Europe Day fête in Cambridge on 14 May

    Three Steampunks

    Imagining other worlds: steampunk in East Anglia

    Local election results in the East: good news for progressives?

    Smiling Baby

    Twenty years: a staggering difference in life chances

    South Cambridgeshire: will the voters think local or national?

    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • News
    • All
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Health
    • Welfare
    • World
    Cycling.

    Thirty for 30 – how to reduce your carbon footprint

    Oven ready social care plan

    AgeUK and ‘People at the heart of care’

    The UK Youth Parliament

    Should sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds be given the vote?

    Shopping for bargains.

    Savvy tips for cutting your food bill

    Templefields House

    ‘Big Bits of Ash Falling from the Sky’: What happens when your home is on an industrial estate and a warehouse fire breaks out?

    Urkrainian refugees at Warsaw Station

    The Homes for Ukraine scheme: really not “world-beating”

    Pirogov-emergency-team

    Norfolk help for the casualties of war

    A group of international students

    After Brexit: another lost opportunity for young people

    Dentist at work

    Emergency! Dental treatment in lockdown

    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Opinion
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    Pylons at Aldringham, Suffolk

    Shock as National Grid proposes 180km of new pylons across East Anglia

    Houses of Parliament

    Democracy and lack of accountability

    Cambridge Europe Day Fete

    Europe Day fête in Cambridge on 14 May

    Three Steampunks

    Imagining other worlds: steampunk in East Anglia

    Smiling Baby

    Twenty years: a staggering difference in life chances

    Shopping for bargains.

    Savvy tips for cutting your food bill

    Templefields House

    ‘Big Bits of Ash Falling from the Sky’: What happens when your home is on an industrial estate and a warehouse fire breaks out?

    Urkrainian refugees at Warsaw Station

    The Homes for Ukraine scheme: really not “world-beating”

    River Deben, Woodbridge

    Rivers have rights: national day of protests against sewage dumping

    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • All
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    Sugar beet

    As farmers suffer, is government’s sugar sell-out just to keep Tory donors sweet?

    Preston bus station

    Community wealth building

    Stansted Airport

    Are plans for Stansted Airport signs of a changing world?

    Snape

    The Ore and the Alde: smugglers, a merman and the home of seaside chic

    The Studio, Elstree

    Was dirty Russian money washed in a Herts public lavatory?

    Ukraine border boxes

    Freedom Boxes and Freedom Buses

    Sunak's wife claims to be non-domiciled

    Is the Chancellor’s wife really a non-dom?

    Rishi Sunak budget

    The economic and political consequences of Rishi Sunak’s failure

    Energy producer profits set to increase 40 fold due to energy price increases

    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • All
    • Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
    Duncan Baker

    Council leader appeals to MP to clean up politics for good after claimed death threats

    Norfolk County Hall

    EXCLUSIVE: shocking coup by Norfolk’s Tories

    Pylons at Aldringham, Suffolk

    Shock as National Grid proposes 180km of new pylons across East Anglia

    Mr Pecksniff (Social Media)

    Pecksniff’s Diary

    Cambridge Europe Day Fete

    Europe Day fête in Cambridge on 14 May

    Three Steampunks

    Imagining other worlds: steampunk in East Anglia

    Local election results in the East: good news for progressives?

    Smiling Baby

    Twenty years: a staggering difference in life chances

    South Cambridgeshire: will the voters think local or national?

    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
No Result
View All Result
East Anglia Bylines
No Result
View All Result

‘Big Bits of Ash Falling from the Sky’: What happens when your home is on an industrial estate and a warehouse fire breaks out?

Harlow fire threatened Templefield House, a temporary housing block. Police were worried gas pipes might explode.

Jessica WalshbyJessica Walsh
April 29, 2022
in Community, Essex, Health, Welfare
Templefields House

Templefields House, Harlow © Google

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Earlier this week Harlow made national news when people in the town woke up to see the sky full of smoke, as a warehouse burnt. Less well known was the industrial fire’s proximity to a temporary accommodation site, and the experience of the families living inside.

@yourharlow veiw of river way fire from my area Hughes tower #fire #harlow pic.twitter.com/J1VfJ4p7of

— Ricky burnall (@StripezZ96) April 26, 2022

At 5.22am on Tuesday 26 April 2022, Essex Fire & Rescue were called to a fire in an industrial building on River Way in Harlow.

A large plume of smoke could be seen over the town and 70 firefighters were in attendance, with a presence at the site for nearly 36 hours.

The blaze damaged 60 percent of the factory building and caused the roof to partially collapse. The cause is so far speculated to have been accidental, and an investigation is ongoing.

Templefield House

The warehouse is a little under 300 meters away from Templefield House – a block of 172 flats which house a combination of offenders and ex-offenders, recovering and active drug addicts, and families who would otherwise be homeless.

Located amongst an eclectic mix of industrial architecture and ancient ruins, Templefield House is a former office building repurposed for temporary accommodation in 2017 – after changes to the planning system in 2013 by former Conservative Minister for Planning Nick Bowles made it easier for developers to bypass planning permission for such projects. It is one of 9 such sites in Harlow.

Like other office buildings on the site its windows are tinted black. The only thing setting it apart from its neighbours is a children’s play area – a wooden climbing frame with a small slide – in the carpark.

Ash falling from the sky

One resident who has lived in Templefield House for five years described the day of the fire. In the morning he took his eldest children to school. He reasoned they’d be safer there than in the flat.

‘Taking the kids to school there were big bits of ash falling from the sky.’ He says that he thought to himself: ‘That could hit us, that could still be hot.’

Sometime after he left, the residents inside the house were told they had to remain indoors with their windows shut, while those who had left the building were not allowed back in.

Police: ‘pipes might explode’ – but residents weren’t evacuated

‘The police closed it off because they were worried the gas pipes underneath were going to explode. I asked a police officer if everyone had been evacuated, he didn’t answer. I later found out that people could stay in their flat, but if they left, they couldn’t come back. Now, if it was that bad, why wasn’t everyone evacuated?’


More on Essex from East Anglia Bylines

Colchester Town Hall

Colchester Tories keen to focus on local issues, but voters’ anger could swing either way.

May 1, 2022
Templefields House

‘Big Bits of Ash Falling from the Sky’: What happens when your home is on an industrial estate and a warehouse fire breaks out?

April 29, 2022

He said it was lucky it was a sunny day so he and his child could stay in the park. However, being locked out of his home at short notice with no alternative and little money was challenging in other ways.

The resident is on antibiotics to treat a chest infection. He and his children have all had chest infections – his youngest was in hospital for over a week with bronchitis shortly after their birth, and throughout the interview they were coughing. Doctors have refused to confirm that his and his children’s poor health is due to mould. However, to the question: ‘Can mould and damp affect my health?’ the NHS website responds with, ‘Yes, if you have damp and mould in your home, you’re more likely to have respiratory problems.’

Unable to get home

‘I couldn’t get my medication. My child had to stay in a dirty nappy all day, because I didn’t have money to go and buy nappies. I had no way of changing my child and it was horrible because I was thinking they could end up with rashes, and I can’t do anything for them.

I had a couple of quid to get drinks, but that was it. My child was complaining that they were hungry so I was rubbing pennies together to go, what can we do? We can get a bag of crisps. They didn’t really want it but that’s all that was available.’

The resident told me that he understood why he wasn’t able to return to the house but wondered why other residents were able to remain inside, ‘To sit there with a fire not knowing if it’s going to spread is quite scary.’ He said that he fears another, more dangerous fire – a diesel fuel supplier is located directly behind Templefield House.

The resident asked for his identity to be protected as he fears repercussion for speaking about the conditions of Templefield House.


More from Jess Walsh

Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford
Essex

Bishop of Chelmsford makes her case against Rwanda asylum scheme

byJessica Walsh
April 19, 2022
Previous Post

Southend elections: a few changes could make a big difference

Next Post

As farmers suffer, is government’s sugar sell-out just to keep Tory donors sweet?

Jessica Walsh

Jessica Walsh

Jessica Walsh is a graduate of the MA in Creative Writing from UEA. Since graduating she has worked in magazine publishing, bookselling and has animated a short film for BBC Culture in Quarantine.

Related Posts

Pylons at Aldringham, Suffolk
Anglia

Shock as National Grid proposes 180km of new pylons across East Anglia

byAnna Damski
May 15, 2022
Cambridge Europe Day Fete
Cambridgeshire

Europe Day fête in Cambridge on 14 May

byEast Anglia Bylines
May 13, 2022
Oven ready social care plan
UK

AgeUK and ‘People at the heart of care’

byAidan Baker
May 9, 2022
Colchester Town Hall
Essex

Colchester Tories keen to focus on local issues, but voters’ anger could swing either way.

byJenny Rhodes
May 1, 2022
Shopping for bargains.
Health

Savvy tips for cutting your food bill

byJane Berry
May 1, 2022
Next Post
Sugar beet

As farmers suffer, is government's sugar sell-out just to keep Tory donors sweet?

Want to support us?

Can you help East Anglia Bylines to grow and become more sustainable with a regular donation, no matter how small?  

DONATE

Sign up to our newsletter

If you would like to receive the East Anglia Bylines regular newsletter, straight talking direct to your inbox, click the button below.

NEWSLETTER

LATEST

Duncan Baker

Council leader appeals to MP to clean up politics for good after claimed death threats

May 17, 2022
Norfolk County Hall

EXCLUSIVE: shocking coup by Norfolk’s Tories

May 17, 2022
Climate change is going global

Climate change now: acting for ourselves and our children

May 16, 2022
Pylons at Aldringham, Suffolk

Shock as National Grid proposes 180km of new pylons across East Anglia

May 15, 2022

MOST READ

Norfolk County Hall

EXCLUSIVE: shocking coup by Norfolk’s Tories

May 17, 2022
Pylons at Aldringham, Suffolk

Shock as National Grid proposes 180km of new pylons across East Anglia

May 15, 2022
Duncan Baker

Council leader appeals to MP to clean up politics for good after claimed death threats

May 17, 2022
Lee Anderson MP

Jack Monroe threatens to sue MP

May 14, 2022

Tags

Activism Brexit Business Cambridgeshire Climate Community Culture Democracy Development Devolution Economics Education Employment Environment Essex Farming Finance Health Humour Hymns International Women's Day Justice Letters Local elections 2022 Local government NHS Norfolk Opinion Pandemic Partygate Party politics Pecksniff Poetry Politics Poverty Property Rivers of East Anglia Science Sewage Sizewell Social care Suffolk Ukraine VAWG Welfare
East Anglia Bylines

East Anglia Bylines is a regional online newspaper that supports citizen journalism. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in East Anglia and beyond.

Learn more about us

No Result
View All Result
  • About us
    • Contact us
    • Bylines Network
    • Complaints
    • Newsletter
    • Privacy Policy
    • Donate
    • Pecksniff’s Diary
  • UK
  • Anglia
  • About us
  • UK
  • Anglia

© 2022 East Anglia Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • News
    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Opinion
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk

© 2022 East Anglia Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In