Young Plumbers GBP5m Blunder

It is not uncommon for things to go wrong when undertaking a complex plumbing or heating job. Most plumbers manage to restore things back to normal and complete the task at hand. This, unfortunately is not what happened to a 17-year-old rookie plumber from Devon who has caused a fire that burned down a £5 million waterside mansion in Devon after a soldering task has gone horribly wrong on his first day on the job.

The historic waterside mansion was undergoing a major renovation when a fire burned the eight bedroom house to the ground within minutes.

It is believed the fire was a result of a polystyrene insulation catching fire from a spark from the blow torch used by the young plumber. The young plumber was working on the mansion for a firm of sub contractors.

According to John Howes of the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, the young plumber that caused the fire was “very upset”.

“It appears at this stage that this was an unfortunate plumber who was soldering in the roof space of a large building, which was undergoing total renovation”.

“We think a blow torch may have set light to expanded polystyrene foam in the roof space”.

To handle the blaze, the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service has sent over 60 fire fighters to try and fight the fire. Luckily no one was hurt in the fire.

One of the neighbours said: “I heard it was started by a teenager on his first day. You have to feel sorry for the poor lad. He must feel terrible”

The millionaire owner of the property was naturally unhappy with the fire, but his spokesman said the owner did not believe there as an malice involved.

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This page has been written with contributions from plumbers from Buckinghamshire and Gas Safe engineers from Marylebone. Several of the company's qualified plumbers from Berkshire have worked on similar issues as well as some of our experienced plumbers from Ealing and our Barnes experienced heating engineers.

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