A YEAR ago devastation hit Highbridge Caravan centre when it was destroyed in a blaze. 

The community rallied together to help heartbroken owner, Phil Davies, get his business back on track after the fire broke out in a shed near the site on Bristol Road on October 1, 2016.

Flames quickly spread across the caravan centre, with gas canisters exploding and caravans being destroyed in the fire’s wake.

A total of 13 fire engines and dozens of firefighters battled for several hours to extinguish the fire and they also made a wall of engines so the flames would not spread to the workshop.

The blaze destroyed 161 caravans and caused £2 million worth of damage to the site but, thankfully, nobody was injured or killed.

Mr Davies said he was told about the fire from a security guard on site.

“I checked my phone to see the CCTV footage just so I could see the scale of the fire, I couldn’t believe it,” Mr Davies recalled.

“I was hoping the security guard was okay, my brothers and I travelled to the centre as soon as we heard, the field was covered in black smoke.”

The morning after the fire, Mr Davies said he was “shocked” when he saw the destruction the blaze had caused.

Metal was melted into the tarmac, caravans were reduced to black ash and caravan parts were scattered across the fire ravaged tarmac.

“The community was amazing after the fire – they really pulled together to help us.

Volunteers came and helped sweep up the site, staff came in on their days off to help and the local vicar came down and made sandwiches for the volunteers. We were due to have a show that morning and it still went ahead despite the incident.”

Now a year on, Mr Davies said the family business has “risen from the ashes” since the fire and has expanded by buying two new caravan parks in Devon and Burnham-on-Sea.

“The site was cleared by November last year and by December, our stock had been fully replaced.

“The community and manufacturers were brilliant,” Mr Davies said.

“Manufacturers made sure we had enough stock so business could continue as usual, our customers are very loyal to us and that really showed through.”

Mr Davies said the company is now selling internationally, exporting their caravans as far as South Korea and New Zealand.

“The internet has been an extremely useful tool for us, it’s really helped us expand our business,” Mr Davies added.

The businessman said he has high hopes for the company’s future despite the devastation the fire caused. “Our family has owned this business for 80 years.

My father started the business by making a caravan and selling it for £10 – it runs in our blood. We hope the business will continue to be successful as we would like to pass it on to future generations,” he said.