Specialized UK Headquarters Gutted by Fire

Specialized's UK headquarters were gutted by fire last night with a four-hour effort by the London Fire brigade to get the blaze under control.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) were called to the six at 6:36 pm on Saturday where they deployed twelve fire engines and around eighty firefighters to tackle the blaze at the Chessington business park. The LFB found nobody injured from the fire but, a warehouse was destroyed.

UK head of marketing for Specialized, Kirsty Woodcock, told Cycling Weekly: “Last night, we were notified that a fire had affected our UK headquarters in Chessington. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but sadly the fire has had a devastating effect to our offices. There will be some short-term changes to certain business operations, but our warehouse is located elsewhere and riders should not be concerned.”

Neil Guyett, the LFB Station Commander who attended the scene, said: “Fire crews arrived to find a well-developed fire and worked hard to bring it under control in what was a protracted incident. There was thick smoke issuing across the business park."

The cause of the fire is unknown but, the LFB's Fire Investigation Unit and the Metropolitan Police Service are now investigating what could have started the fire.