23.12.2013
Firefighters Were Called To Chessington World Of Adventures On Saturday
Chessington World of Adventures was forced to shut this Saturday after a fire broke out at a cafe.
Firefighters from across London were called to the site just after 08:30 and because the incident happened before the venue opened, nobody was injured or hurt.
The incident took place at what would have normally been a packed cafe and the blaze also spread to a nearby Santa's grotto. Two reindeers were moved to safety by the London Fire Brigade and were unharmed.
A statement released by the Surrey-based theme park revealed the fire at the Creaky Cafe was brought under control at 11:20 but the structure has been ravaged and will no longer be usable.
Customers who had already made the trip to the site were said to be "devastated" at the park's closure.
One man, Paul Sharpe, 41, from Maidstone arrived on the Friday night before the fire with his wife and two sons and told the BBC: "We came out to the car and just heard noise. We saw smoke billowing and lot of people from Chessington running towards it. We saw lots of flames and as I was out here I heard one of the staff say it was in the grotto.
"We went up to our room and checked the website, and Chessington said a fire was started in one of the cafes."
A road close to the theme park - the A243 - was closed for a short period of time but was later fully re-opened to traffic after emergency service staff began to move away from the scene.
Surrey Police have now said they will launch a full investigation into the blaze to discover if arson or a health and safety violation were behind its ignition.
Other details on the case have not been revealed but one station manager involved in tackling the fire said: "I can confirm that Santa's reindeer are safe and well and ready to be collected on Christmas Eve."
