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Fire Risk at Towers?

K

Kraken27

TS Member
It seems there is currently a woodland fire within a mile of two of Towers of Towers near Dimmingsdale according to the Stoke Sentinel & Derby Evening Telegraph papers.

Given the current tinder-dry conditions, it makes you wonder what precautions Alton Towers have in place for such a fire in their grounds? They have lots of woodland and garden areas which must be tinder-dry by now given the warm weather we're enjoying & look set to enjoy for some weeks to come.

Add to this that the guest demographic at Towers is probably more likely than the general public to enjoy a crafty cigarette outside a designated smoking area and think nothing of flicking the cigarette butt into the undergrowth / a hedge etc. (Bare in mind we're just about to enter school trips peak fortnight-3 weeks and crafty smoking is still seen as a rite of passage by many school aged people).

We have seen two fires at Alton Towers (Skyride Maindrive & Skyride CCL). The formet happened when the park was open and resulted in Forbidden Valley closing early - the building still got heavily burnt out. The Skyride CCL fire happened out of park hours and the building was left as a steel framed shell. Both of these fires were semi-contained as in buildings - woodland / gardens fires are way harder to control.
 
I would guess the plan is as little as "evacuate affected areas / the park and call the fire service". To be fair, if the woodland area goes up in flames then what can you do? Even with scores of professional and well-equipped firefighters you would still struggle to control it.

Perhaps patrolling the areas for smokers and people up to no good would be a better approach.
 
It's no doubt covered in their risk management plans/assessments/registers or whatever they call them at Towers. At least you would hope it would be!

We've seen that fires can start very easily in these weather conditions. Guests casually littering cigarettes is definitely a risk, especially as so many people lack common sense.

:)
 
They would reevaluate the risk assessment for hot works permits (maintenance)

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Sat in the sweltering tunnel on Wickerman awaiting offload on Sunday it crossed my mind what’d happen if there was a fire. I’d hope there would be a sprinkler system fitted.
 
IDB said:
Sat in the sweltering tunnel on Wickerman awaiting offload on Sunday it crossed my mind what’d happen if there was a fire. I’d hope there would be a sprinkler system fitted.
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Some on here would crack a joke involving VIP holders :D

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Towers Street when the fire spreads to an area of the park Merlin were conveniently thinking of redoing
cbbb159a4f5379486f192342fc6d2ec3.jpg
 
There are a lot of feeder lakes around the valley built to supply the gardens and water features so it would take an epic dry spell to put the park at risk. The fire is on the moor which is much more exposed to the sun and without the irrigation.
 
Rob said:
We've seen that fires can start very easily in these weather conditions. Guests casually littering cigarettes is definitely a risk, especially as so many people lack common sense.

:)
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Was gonna say, it survives the wrath of the Travellers...
 
The chained oak doesn't even look good any more anyway since people busted it after the knowledge of its location grew because of the internet. I mean, what kind of knobcheese sees a nice historic thing and decides they need to stand on or hang off its branches and bust them down? Probably for that killer photo right?
 
If i ever go to the chained oak the closest contact i would have with it is a light placed hand on it's trunk.


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