LONDON (BRAIN) — Specialized Bicycles' headquarters in London was heavily damaged by a fire that broke out Saturday night.
“Over the weekend, we were notified that a fire had affected our UK headquarters," a company spokesman told BRAIN.
"Thankfully, no one was hurt, but sadly the fire had a devastating effect to our offices. While there will be short-term changes to certain business operations in the UK, our warehouse is located elsewhere and therefore, our operations for riders and retailers are not impacted. We are working closely with the authorities to understand more about what happened."
Canyon Bicycle and GoCycle, the British e-bike brand, also have offices in the same business park as Specialized in South East London but there are no reports that either company's building was affected.
About 45 Specialized staff work at the office in normal times, but most have been working remotely because of COVID-19 restrictions. The office had both office space and a small warehouse space, but the company said the warehouse space was not used to store stock. Stock is held in a warehouse offsite, the company said.
According to the London Fire Brigade, 12 fire engines and about 80 firefighters battled the fire. The LFB said a warehouse unit was destroyed.
"Fire crews deployed a drone to provide an aerial view of the blaze and used aerial ladder appliances as they worked to bring the blaze under control. There were no reports of any injuries," the LFB said.
Station Commander Neil Guyett, 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 under investigation by the Brigade’s Fire Investigation Unit and the Metropolitan Police Service. "The fire is believed to be accidental but the cause has been recorded as undetermined," LFB said.
