Big Yellow fire

Ian Hampsted

Ian Hampsted

Location
London
There was a fire in the basement at Big Yellow storage in Fulham last Friday night, where they have wine storage. I have two compartments at ground level, and it is not clear if my goods have been damaged as I have received mixed messages. One possible issue is flooding. Another is smoke damage. The facility is closed but they hope to reopen before the end of the week. If so I will go down on Sunday to inspect my goods. Has anyone else been affected?
 
Potentially yes. I too have had mixed messages. The standard emails issued over the weekend suggested it was looking grim, and so i sent an insurance notification. But someone called me yesterday suggesting that for me it was "good news" and that mine was in section A which was unaffected because of the fire doors (the fire having been in section B). The chap suggested the temperature controls had been maintaned in section A. I think i'm going to need some reassurance about all that. I will go down as soon as I can. ACtually since you've mentioned that i can imagine that if there are a few wine-pagers affected there may be some merit in going at the same time to find out more about what has happened.

Edited just to mention that my compartment is also at ground level so flooding did strike me as one issue in addition to the obvious.
 
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I am not so lucky in that all my wine is in Section B, including some (but not the majority) in a room right next to the room where the fire broke out. Worse I only have a nominal amount of insurance on the wine stored there.
We'll have to see how bad it is - it could take as long as three weeks to open Section B - and I've been warned that nothing may be recoverable. But the messages are not nuanced, as everyone in Section A got a very blunt message at the weekend.

After a few days of worry, and even wondering whether I should stop bothering with this wine thing full stop (I would probably be quite happy with a Eurocave of decent Champagne and a few reasonably priced table wines bought from wine shops as needed), I am now prepared for the worst, and still have quite a lot of wine in storage elsewhere (younger on the whole, but most of the very top old Madeiras too). I was also cheered up greatly by a wonderful meal with good friends last night. But sorry if I can't supply every old bottle promised for future offlines.
 
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Paul Day said:
I am not so lucky in that all my wine is in Section B, including some (but not the majority) in a room right next to the room where the fire broke out. Worse I only have a nominal amount of insurance on the wine stored there.
We'll have to see how bad it is - it could take as long as three weeks to open Section B - and I've been warned that nothing may be recoverable. But the messages are not nuanced, as everyone in Section A got a very blunt message at the weekend.

After a few days of worry, and even wondering whether I should stop bothering with this wine thing full stop (I would probably be quite happy with a Eurocave of decent Champagne and a few reasonably priced table wines bought from wine shops as needed). But I am now prepared for the worst, still have quite a lot of wine in storage elsewhere (younger on the whole, but most of the very top old Madeiras too). I was also cheered up greatly by a wonderful meal with good friends last night. But sorry if I can't supply every old bottle promised for future offlines.
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How heartsinking!
 
Paul Day said:
After a few days of worry, and even wondering whether I should stop bothering with this wine thing full stop (I would probably be quite happy with a Eurocave of decent Champagne and a few reasonably priced table wines bought from wine shops as needed). But I am now prepared for the worst, still have quite a lot of wine in storage elsewhere (younger on the whole, but most of the very top old Madeiras too). I was also cheered up greatly by a wonderful meal with good friends last night. But sorry if I can't supply every old bottle promised for future offlines.
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Very sorry to hear Paul.
But please be assured that we will always welcome your company in offlines regardless your bottle being old or young.
 
Tom De Vecchi said:
Potentially yes. I too have had mixed messages. The standard emails issued over the weekend suggested it was looking grim, and so i sent an insurance notification. But someone called me yesterday suggesting that for me it was "good news" and that mine was in section A which was unaffected because of the fire doors (the fire having been in section B). The chap suggested the temperature controls had been maintaned in section A. I think i'm going to need some reassurance about all that. I will go down as soon as I can. ACtually since you've mentioned that i can imagine that if there are a few wine-pagers affected there may be some merit in going at the same time to find out more about what has happened.

Edited just to mention that my compartment is also at ground level so flooding did strike me as one issue in addition to the obvious.
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Same here. News appears a lot better for folk in Section A but bottles will need to be checked to check some corks. Sound like no water damage and unlikely smoke either. People who abut Section B from A will need to check as I assume the concrete walls will have warmed up a bit?
 
Terrible news Paul, it must have been a real shock. Rotten luck too as I recall you were in the process of getting some things ready for shifting out. I shall keep my fingers crossed that some is salvageable and that insurance responds to some extent (although I appreciate that the money isn’t really the point in many ways). Glad you had a good dinner to cheer you up.
 
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simon beatty said:
Same here. News appears a lot better for folk in Section A but bottles will need to be checked to check some corks. Sound like no water damage and unlikely smoke either. People who abut Section B from A will need to check as I assume the concrete walls will have warmed up a bit?
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I confess i don't have a good picture in my mind of where section B is in relation to section A. I know the route from the lifts to my box but that's it.
 
simon beatty said:
News appears a lot better for folk in Section A but bottles will need to be checked to check some corks.
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Whenever we're able to make an inspection, my rough plan was to turn up with a corkscrew to check a couple of bottles as a sample, check corks generally, and ask some questions about their confidence in the temperature levels etc and any potential smoke issues. I may send those questions in in writing in advance.
 
Tom De Vecchi said:
Whenever we're able to make an inspection, my rough plan was to turn up with a corkscrew to check a couple of bottles as a sample, check corks generally, and ask some questions about their confidence in the temperature levels etc and any potential smoke issues. I may send those questions in in writing in advance.
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Consider asking for evidence if they are confident about temperatures. Depends on the complexity of their set up but if it is good (and this is why they have confidence), there may be proper logs.
 
Julian Seers-Martin said:
Consider asking for evidence if they are confident about temperatures. Depends on the complexity of their set up but if it is good (and this is why they have confidence), there may be proper logs.
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Yes, that's more or less what I have in mind. I want original docs/records, not just the assurance of the manager or whoever. They should have records because the insurance terms specifically provide for a particular claims process if there is a failure of the cooling system that lasts for longer than 48 hours and results in a rise in temp of more than 4 degrees C. Not our facts obviously, but it would suggest that they keep records of such things.
 
Tom De Vecchi said:
Whenever we're able to make an inspection, my rough plan was to turn up with a corkscrew to check a couple of bottles as a sample, check corks generally, and ask some questions about their confidence in the temperature levels etc and any potential smoke issues. I may send those questions in in writing in advance.
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If you own a Coravin, this is the time it could come into its own.
 
Had my phone call this evening and they apologised for the mixed messages so far. They seem pretty confident that section A should be OK and that they are gathering temperature sensor information that will be shared with unit owners in due course. I feel for you Paul as I've been feeling the same for the last couple of days.
 
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