The Daler Rowney fire took place on Bank Holiday Monday, May 25, and was the biggest emergency that Bracknell residents can remember to date.
Residents were evacuated. Debris rose high into the air, and there was even “the smell of marshmallows”.
Some people with resources quickly found places to take their families, others never found the emergency locations prepared to evacuate people.
On Wednesday, June 3, residents had the chance to share their experiences at a meeting with politicians and emergency services at Jennett’s Park community centre.
Becki Longstaff returned home between 14:30 and 14:45 when her daughter noticed smoke.
The 19-year-old, going to retrieve shopping, said: “Mum there’s smoke!” thinking a car was on fire.
Becki immediately realised otherwise: “Er – that’s Daler-Rowney. It was really sweet,” describing a sugary smell.
Helen Diprose agreed: “The fire smelled like marshmallows – it smelled like somebody was toasting marshmallows.” Becki called the fire service at 15:28.
Peter Smith, 45, left his Butler Drive home with his two daughters, aged 12 and 8, after seeing black smoke.
He said: “Quite honestly, the children obviously got quite scared… We took the decision… to go to the Coppid Beach [Hotel]… let them get calm.”
He later returned home briefly. “I thought ‘well I’ll come back… make sure the house was safe.’ Then the more fire engines turned up… lots of people rubber necking… some people were kind of sat watching which was frightening.”
Evacuated residents were directed to a rendezvous point at Waitrose headquarters, where many said they were treated well. However, others criticised communication as “diabolical”.
One evacuee said: “The emergency planning is a bit diabolical… people… kept being directed to somewhere else. It’s very stressful.”
Local councillors quickly stepped in. Cllr Guy Gillbe opened Jennett’s Park community centre, contacting manager Kerry Sutton, who said: “We made sure we came straight back from Swindon.” They returned immediately to prepare the centre in case residents needed support.
Peter Swallow MP and several councillors also attended, though most families went to Waitrose instead.
Cllr Gillbe also contacted the Bracknell News at 16:09, helping spread information quickly.
As the situation escalated, Peter Smith said: “Not long after that the police turned up in numbers… the decision was made to evacuate, which… was totally the right choice.”
Some residents, however, felt unsupported.
One Peacock Lane resident said: “The police didn’t take my number – they just told me to get out… nobody could get a straight answer. Many of us couldn’t get… medication. You all just dumped us really.”
By 18:00, Smith and his family decided to stay overnight in a hotel.
For emergency services, the operation continued into the night. Area manager Tim Readings of Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service first received a call at 15:10 and confirmed he fought the fire with very very large quantities of water.
According to Mr Readings, most of the water was contained on the Daler Rowney site, with interceptors and captured in underground storage.
He confirmed: “No foam – just water. We didn’t use fire-retarding foam.”
Susan Haliwell, chief executive of Bracknell Forest, said emergency services led the response: “This is usual for an incident of this size… The council was on hand to assist when requested.”
