Shailesh Vara MP today visited Whirlpool’s UK Headquarters in his constituency in Peterborough to see the site of a devastating fire which occurred last week.

The fire started in the evening in an outdoor area where heavy goods vehicle trailers containing spare parts were parked.  The smoke from the scene could be seen for miles as it billowed into the skies of the surrounding area. 

Over 200 calls were received by the emergency services from concerned local residents and around 50 firefighters tackled the blaze with crews attending from Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

Fortunately, no injuries were sustained and buildings on the site were not affected.

Mr Vara met with Mr Andrzej Tuleja, Whirlpool’s UK General Manager and Mr Ian Moverley, Director for UK Public Affairs to see first-hand the scale of the damage and to hear of the action taken by staff and emergency services that evening.

Following the visit, Mr Vara said:

“I am grateful to Whirlpool for the opportunity to see first-hand the site and the scale of the fire which the emergency services were able to swiftly deal with. 

“My thanks go to all the teams who were part of the emergency response and to the local community for their patience.

“As the only major white goods manufacturer remaining in the UK, Whirlpool is a valued local employer and I am very pleased that nobody was hurt and that Mr Tuleja’s team have been able to resume normal operations.”

Mr Andrzej Tuleja added:

“I’m delighted to welcome Shailesh to our UK headquarters here in Peterborough to inspect the damage of this incident and brief him on the brave work of the emergency services in tackling the fire. Most importantly, nobody was hurt in this incident and it has not impacted operations or our ability to serve our customers.  I’m grateful for the support of our local MP and as I have said to Shailesh today, we will continue to work closely with the police to understand the exact cause of the fire. We are proud of our considerable heritage here in Peterborough and regret any impact this incident has had on the local community.

Photo: Andrzej Tuleja, Whirlpool’s UK General Manager and Shailesh Vara MP