Wrexham in Focus: Fire Safety, Risk and Compliance
Wrexham — Wrecsam in Welsh — is the largest town in North Wales and, since January 2023, a city in its own right. It sits at the junction of the A483 and A5156 corridors, with strong road and rail connections to Chester, Shrewsbury and beyond. The city centre combines a busy retail and hospitality offer with historic civic buildings and an active evening economy. Beyond the centre, Wrexham has one of the most significant concentrations of industrial premises in Wales, with the Wrexham Industrial Estate — one of the largest industrial estates in the UK — home to a wide range of manufacturing, logistics, food production and warehousing operations, alongside a significant number of smaller commercial units and business parks spread across Johnstown, Llay, Rhostyllen and Cefn Mawr.
For those who own, manage or occupy premises in and around Wrexham, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places a direct legal duty to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and to keep it under regular review. That duty falls on the responsible person — whether the employer, managing agent, landlord or building owner — and it applies across almost every non-domestic premises in the area. Given the scale and diversity of Wrexham's commercial and industrial base, the range of fire risk profiles across the city is considerable, and the consequences of inadequate fire safety management have been demonstrated on the industrial estate itself on more than one occasion.
Village Bakery Fire, Coed Aben Road, Wrexham Industrial Estate — August 2019
On 19 August 2019, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service were called to the Village Bakery on Coed Aben Road, Wrexham Industrial Estate, at 8:41am, following reports of a fire in the production area. The production area at this site was used for the manufacture of Welsh cakes, crumpets and bread rolls. The cause of the fire was not publicly confirmed following investigation.
What is confirmed is the speed and extent of spread. Within approximately an hour of the alarm being raised, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that the single-storey production area was fully involved in fire, and that it had already spread to an adjoining office block. The metal roof collapsed into the fire below, trapping burning material and making internal attack by crews impossible. Two aerial ladder platforms were deployed to direct water onto the fire from above. Eleven appliances in total attended, with crews from Wrexham, Deeside, Buckley, Llangollen, Chester and Oswestry all mobilised. The operation continued well into the following day, with six appliances still on site 24 hours later damping down to prevent rekindling. The production area was a total loss and the adjoining office block was badly damaged. The Business Sprinkler Alliance subsequently recorded the fire as a case study.
The cause was never publicly confirmed, so it is not possible to say with certainty why this fire started. What the fire service's own contemporaneous statements do confirm is the pattern of progression: production area to full involvement to structural collapse to office block involvement, in sequence, within a timeframe that overwhelmed the emergency response despite its speed and scale. Assistant chief fire officer Richard Fairhead described it at the time as "a very large fire — thankfully we don't usually have fires of this size in north Wales."
The company confirmed that all staff had evacuated safely. Managing director Robin Jones specifically attributed this to "well-drilled evacuation procedures" — a detail worth noting, because the swift and complete evacuation of a building that was subsequently destroyed is not accidental.
Footage from the Village Bakery fire on Wrexham Industrial Estate, August 2019. Video: LeaderLive.
What responsible persons at manufacturing premises should take from this: The cause of the Village Bakery fire was not established publicly, so we cannot say what triggered it. What we can say is that the pattern of progression — rapid full involvement of a large production area, spread to adjoining accommodation, structural collapse preventing internal attack — is consistent with what fire safety research shows happens in single-storey industrial buildings where active suppression is absent and compartmentation between production and office areas is limited. Food manufacturing environments carry a high inherent fire load: baking fats and oils, combustible packaging, flour dust, and production equipment running at elevated temperatures are all present as a matter of routine. Whether or not any of these contributed here, a fire risk assessment for any similar premises must address them specifically, consider the speed at which a production area fire could develop, and test the evacuation strategy against a scenario where the fire starts before all staff are present and before any manual alarm activation is possible.
Wrexham Industrial Estate Fire, Redwither Road — November 2024
On 4 November 2024, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service were called to a fire on Redwither Road, Wrexham Industrial Estate, at 3:19pm. Crews attended as smoke was reported rising from commercial premises on the estate. Residents near the industrial estate were advised to avoid the area and to keep windows and doors closed while firefighters dealt with the incident.
Beyond those confirmed facts, the cause and full circumstances of this fire were not reported in detail in the public record. It is included here not as a case study in a known cause, but because it is representative of a pattern of incidents on the Wrexham Industrial Estate that reflects a risk dynamic responsible persons on large, multi-occupier estates should understand — regardless of what started any individual fire.
On an estate of this scale, accommodating hundreds of separate occupiers across several hundred acres, the fire risk for any single unit is shaped partly by what happens on the rest of the site. Buildings constructed in terraced blocks share party walls and sometimes roof voids where fire can travel between tenancies without triggering any detector in the affected unit. Access roads serving multiple occupiers can be blocked by emergency service vehicles, parked HGVs or incident cordons, delaying evacuation or response. Hazardous materials stored at one premises create exposures for neighbouring occupiers who may not be aware of them. These are not hypothetical risks — they are documented contributing factors in major industrial estate fires across the UK, and the FSO requires responsible persons to consider them.
Footage from a blaze at Wrexham Industrial Estate. Video: LeaderLive.
What responsible persons on industrial estates should take from this: The FSO requires responsible persons to consider not only the hazards within their own premises but risks arising from activities elsewhere in the same building or on the same site. For units on a large estate, a fire risk assessment that stops at the unit boundary is not a complete assessment. It should address whether evacuation routes remain usable if a fire originates in a neighbouring unit, whether the alarm system would detect an externally-originating threat before it compromises escape, and whether the evacuation plan accounts for scenarios where access routes are blocked by an incident elsewhere on the estate.
Fire Safety Duties for Responsible Persons in Wrexham
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, any person who has control of non-domestic premises — or has a degree of control over any part of them — carries legal duties in relation to fire safety. In Wrexham, that encompasses a broad range of occupiers: manufacturers and logistics operators on the industrial estate, retailers and hospitality businesses in the city centre, managing agents responsible for mixed-use blocks, landlords of commercial and residential premises, and employers across the city's growing professional and services sector.
A fire risk assessment is the foundation of that compliance. It must identify the fire hazards present, evaluate the risk to occupants and others who may be affected, and record the significant findings along with any remedial action required. Where five or more people are employed, or where the premises are subject to a licence, the assessment must be in writing. It must be reviewed whenever there is reason to believe it is no longer valid — following a significant change to the premises, a change of use, or where a fire or near-miss has occurred.
Premises with multiple occupiers or those accessible to the public should hold a documented fire safety policy and a written fire evacuation plan. The evacuation plan should address all foreseeable scenarios, including provision for any occupants who may not be able to self-evacuate — and where that is the case, evacuation chair training for relevant staff is a practical and increasingly expected element of a complete fire safety provision.
Where fire doors form part of the compartmentation strategy — as they do in the majority of multi-storey commercial and residential buildings across the city centre and surrounding areas — regular fire door inspections are essential to maintaining the passive fire protection on which the risk assessment relies. The Village Bakery fire demonstrated how quickly fire can move between adjoining areas when compartmentation is absent or overwhelmed; in buildings where fire doors are the primary barrier between an escape route and a developing fire, their condition and correct operation are not secondary considerations.
Staff awareness is equally important. The FSO requires that employees receive appropriate fire safety instruction and training and know what to do in the event of a fire. Fire safety training covering the action on discovering a fire, evacuation procedures and assembly points should be provided on induction and refreshed regularly. The Village Bakery's managing director specifically attributed the safe evacuation of all staff to well-drilled procedures — a detail that responsible persons across Wrexham's industrial and commercial premises should take note of.
Fire Safety Support for Wrexham and the Surrounding Area
Fletcher Risk Management provides fire risk assessments in Wrexham and across Flintshire and Wrexham, alongside fire door inspections, fire safety training, evacuation plans, fire safety policies and evacuation chair training. Whether you manage a unit on the industrial estate, a commercial premises in the city centre, or a residential or mixed-use building elsewhere in the area, we can advise on your obligations and help you meet them.
If you are a managing agent or property manager responsible for the common parts of a building, our dedicated service for managing agents sets out how we work and what that process involves.
Fire safety support across the North West and North Wales
Fletcher Risk Management provides fire risk assessments, fire door inspections and fire safety training for responsible persons across Chester, Cheshire, the Wirral, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, North Wales and beyond. To discuss your requirements, please get in touch.
This article is intended for general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. Responsible persons should seek professional advice tailored to their specific premises and circumstances. Fletcher Risk Management Ltd provides fire risk assessments, fire door inspections, and fire safety training across the North West and North Wales.