A Highbridge town centre shop has been left with an estimated £15,000-£20,000 of damage after a motorbike fire spread to the building on Monday.
Four TVs were destroyed, along with the whole of shopfront of Mike Jones TV Services in Highbridge’s Church Street after a BMW motorbike burst into flames, as we first reported here.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze and tried to avoid it spreading, but nothing could be done to prevent the fire damaging the shop.
Speaking to Burnham-On-Sea.com, Mike Jones said: “We are open for repairs and servicing, but the shop will be shut for some time.”
“I was in the shop at the time when the motorbike caught fire – I heard a whoosh outside and then the glass shattered everywhere.”
“Four TVs have been lost, the shop is full of soot, and the shop is now boarded up and closed for the moment, but my servicing and repairs will continue.”
“I’m still waiting for a figure for the cost of the damage, but I think it will be around £15,000-£20,000. It is insured.”
“I spent the day cleaning up shards of glass but am so relieved that no-one was hurt.”
“If our shutters had been down we would have had far less damage, but we were fully open at the time and the shutters were up so the shopfront was exposed. It’s a big nuisance, but I will survive.”
A fire spokesman told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Fire crews from Burnham-On-Sea and Bridgwater were mobilised to reports of a vehicle fire in Church Street just after 10am.”
“On arrival, crews confirmed this was a fire involving a motorcycle that had slightly spread to a nearby shop front.”
“Crews used a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire and used a thermal imaging camera to check for further fire spread.”
“The fire caused 100% damage to the motorcycle and 20% fire damage to the shop front. The cause of the fire was deemed accidental.”
Police diverted traffic along alternative routes while the A38 closure was in place. Bus services were diverted too.
The road did not fully re-open until later in the afternoon, once the emergency and recovery vehicles had cleared the roadway and left the scene.
