Fire at AW
Fri Jul 02 2021 19:51:00 GMT+0800 (Malaysia Time)
Greetings from Spain
Last week I was telling you about Holy Smoke in Spain.. otherwise known as Pallo Santo, you can read about it here.
This week is a memorial of sorts at AW as we remember a different kind of smoke.
Even now what happened exactly a year ago seems unreal, seems like a supernatural event. A million to one chance happening, and yet it happened.
A warm July day almost a year ago someone at AW cleaned up a minor oil splash, the oil soaked rag as per health and safety was carefully binned. The bin must be (as per H&S) stored outside of the building. The bin must be lockable to avoid some smoker tossing in a fag end.. As per H&S guidance.
Six hours later a little before midnight, in that hot sealed pressure cooker bin a self combustion occurred. It probably should have smoldered and gone out for lack of oxygen, but a small hole in the plastic melted open, and a hot westerly wind that night was just enough to rouse the flame.
Due to H&S regulations IBC's of oils must be kept outside. Now a burning bin might have just burned out, but the IBC nearby began to melt from the heat. The oil escaped and ran across the carpark and under a door that contained the essential oil room, and of course it caught fire as it went.
Something (probably the gas for the underfloor heating) caught fire and exploded blowing off the roller shutter doors. The wind blew the flames west through the building. First though the factory, then the main warehouse then the office block.
I was in a different time zone. Early in the morning in Indonesia, my mobile is buzzing. I will never forget Tomas's tear stained face framed by a massive blaze. It's over, it's over.. Was all he could say.
Within two and a half hours despite a rapid response and valiant effort from the fire brigade the place was burned to the ground. It was the biggest fire that Sheffield had seen for years.
The whole drama from the bin combusting to the fire engines arriving to the total destruction was captured on CCTV by a high level camera in the carpark.
Something (probably the gas for the underfloor heating) caught fire and exploded blowing off the roller shutter doors. The wind blew the flames west through the building. First though the factory, then the main warehouse then the office block.
I was in a different time zone. Early in the morning in Indonesia, my mobile is buzzing. I will never forget Tomas's tear stained face framed by a massive blaze. It's over, it's over.. Was all he could say.
Within two and a half hours despite a rapid response and valiant effort from the fire brigade the place was burned to the ground. It was the biggest fire that Sheffield had seen for years.
The whole drama from the bin combusting to the fire engines arriving to the total destruction was captured on CCTV by a high level camera in the carpark.
from this to this...
in 2 hours..
That day was a monumental shock not only to me but everyone at AW, and many of our customers and suppliers who had been with us for years.
People ask me how I felt at that moment?
People ask me how I felt at that moment?
The answer is part of me could have just given up, I told myself I'm too old to deal with this. The thought went through my brain, that the company could be liquidated, insurance claimed, everyone paid off.. retire, game over the easy way out.
My brain did the cold hard calculations, but my heart held the casting vote.. and when I thought about the people that depend on AW, the 25 years of hard work building it up. When I started to receive thousands of messages of support from customers, from you maybe.. then there was no alternative..
The Plan.
There was no way we could give up.. I got myself on the only plane out of Bali in a month.. and made it back to the UK within the week.
So Tomas, Katka and I made a plan. We put it to the team. This job was not going to be easy, but with enough support, energy and teamwork I believed we could recover.
But more than that, to borrow a phrase.. I told the team.. we had to build back better.. and to think 3X up.
Forged in the Fire..
As we set to work, there were some who couldn't hack it and left us, but most stayed, and rolled up their sleeves and got on with building back better (to borrow a phrase). I have to say there are some people at AW who stepped up to the plate and exceeded all expectations. And remember not only the fire, but the pandemic and bloody Brexit we have had to deal with..
My personal thanks to those AW Hero's without whom AW wouldn't be here today. Many people at AW grew in character and abilities.
Of course this has been a trial for you also, the pandemic has tested the whole world, so there is a sense that we all came through this.
Thank you!
We had tremendous support from our suppliers, both with practical help and moral support. Even competitors offered help. But without question, without doubt, without the generous support of you; our amazing customers we would not have made it.
And so.. I have to say on behalf of everyone at AW, on behalf of all artisans in Bali, India and China, on behalf of our agents, Ringo, Coco & Chatterjee, I have to say a big heartfelt THANK YOU!!
And rest assured - everyone from our Jacob in the warehouse to the ladies who carve Hati-Hati Angels in Bali to the machinists stitching Indian cotton bags.. all of us (myself included) are humbled, thankful and grateful for your support.
One year on...
Our mission - To Bring You The Best in Giftware - is now forged in the fire.. to serve you better and stronger.
Keith, our landlord has got on with rebuilding the warehouse.. and we may move our aromatics factory back into that space.
As regular readers will know.. last October we moved the warehouse to Affinity Park.. a self contained 100k sq ft distribution centre.
Our central hub office is now coming together, soon we will move from a temporary office to the new work space..
Affinity
A New Look.
And to complete the reinvention of AW.. Tomas has been working on a new AW logo, a new image.
We actually brought in a famous logo designer, and told her our life story, our mission, our heritage, our dreams.. give me a month to work on it..
A steady flow of ideas and designs and iterations is being gradually formed into a new look AW..
Next week all will be revealed.
Until then, once again THANK YOU for supporting and helping make AW what it is..
Hope you have an amazing weekend.
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