059. The Progression Centre in Hemel Hempstead goes up in Flames 2019-01-09 (4K)

Date 9th Jan 2019 & this is really a historical record video.
So I was at work at UTC Aerospace Systems, residing in the leased Technology House building on the corner of Maylands Ave & Mark Rd, on Hemel Hempstead’s main industrial area (do you remember the massive Buncefield Oil Depot blast & fire of 2005 ?). It was around 4pm & I was about to go home, when guys in the office started all crowding around the windows at the other end of the office to me.

Yet another fire appeared to be smouldering, with what appeared to be steam or pale smoke rising from the roof of the building across the way. I filmed as much of it as I could, before we were all asked to go home. At the time, I had no idea what the burning building was or called; I do now (see below).

Banter around the window suggested it was probably an electrical fire from an Air Conditioning Unit (AC) or similar in the roof space (turn your volume up so to hear what we are saying). We are all engineers of one sort or another, so reasonably intelligent.
One YouTube comment has suggested mice chewing the wires, but that thought triggered in me a far more likely cause. Hemel is right in the small area around the nearby town of Tring, where back in 1902, the 2nd Baron - Walter Rothchild (Banker & Zoologist) released the adorable but destructive Edible Dormouse, known as a Glis Glis. They are still around & love living in lofts chewing stuff.

I didn’t upload the film to YouTube at the time because I thought it a bit sensationalist and disrespectful to those evacuating the building who had probably just lost their jobs !
Ironically, due to our Company soon moving site to Solihull nr Birmingham (hence Technology House now being deserted), I too lost my job at the end of March of that same year (yay, that was a good thing, not bad). However, I never got to see what happened to the badly fire damaged building next door & it faded from my mind.

Whilst searching my archive of videos for my next YouTube project, I found the original video, so went onto Google Maps to pinpoint the building’s position on Mark Road to view the Google Car’s latest image. What I saw was interesting enough for me to drive back to the site (early Feb 2023) & do an update video to complete a story.

Starring :
Unit-1 The Progression Centre :
Then occupied by The Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
Now (2023) occupied by Academia (the Technology Group).
On Google Maps : https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.764...

Also Featuring :
Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service - Hemel Hempstead Fire Brigade.
Technology House - where I worked.
A noisy Rookery in the trees behind.

Venue :
Unit 1, The Progression Centre, Mark Road, Industrial Estate, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England.

Filming :
Camera – Sony Xperia Z5 smartphone.
Fire sequence filmed from Technology House next door.

Video creation :
Software – Microsoft HD Movie Maker PRO.
Background sounds :
• freesound – 565593__postproddog__fire-engine-with-siren-passes.MP3 file by postproddog
https://freesound.org/people/PostProd...

• freesound – 612277__robinhood76__10835-big-fire-loop.WAV file by robinhood76 https://freesound.org/people/Robinhoo...

• freesound - 96377__juskiddink__rooks.WAV file by juskiddink
https://freesound.org/people/juskiddi...