THE Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service has officially confirmed the cause of a fire which brought disaster to a Bodmin Moor pub on Christmas Eve.

Reports of the fire at the Cheesewring Hotel at Minions first came in to the Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service at just after 8am and at 8.21am the critical control centre mobilised two appliances from Liskeard.

Just 10 minutes later, at 8.31am, the first appliance to arrive made pumps four, as smoke had started issuing from the building, so units from Callington and Launceston were then mobilised together with the incident command support vehicle from Launceston and the operational support vehicle from St Austell.

By 8.52am the level of the incident at the historic building, which dates from 1863, had been upped to six pumps as the fire was taking hold and four sets of breathing apparatus were issued.

Soon parts of the building were collapsing internally and thick smoke meant the main road through Minions had to be closed off by fire service vehicles. Further appliances were mobilised from Bodmin and Looe. By 9.06am, fire had spread to the upper floor and roof of the hotel, meaning it could now only be fought from the outside of the building. A request was put out for an ALP (aerial ladder platform) to attend.

At 9.27am nearby residents were advised to keep all their windows closed and to remain indoors.

Nearly three hours later, the fire crews were reported to be making good progress in fighting the blaze, with six major appliances and multiple specialist appliances remaining on the scene. The crews were said to be considering scaling back — however, it wasn’t until 8.30pm that the incident was officially declared as “scaled back” and it was decided there should be an appliance at the scene into the night to monitor any hotspots.

Finally, at 2.50am on Christmas Day, an officer confirmed the fire had been fully extinguished. All the fire crews were then stood down and it was announced that a fire investigation team would convene in the next few days to ascertain the cause of the fire.

Fortunately no one was injured and everyone was accounted for as safe.

The incident manager at the scene, Mark Hewitt, called the incident “a fairly ferocious fire” and while rain helped to suppress the flames, strong winds had been very much against crews.

He added that the building — noted as the highest pub in Cornwall — had been left gutted from floor to ceiling and it was fortunate that all the buildings around it had managed to stay safe from any transfer of the fire.

A fire service spokesman has subsequently confirmed: “The cause is believed to be an internal electrical fault.”

Meanwhile, the hotel website carried the following message: “Sadly, due to the recent fire at the Cheesewring Hotel, the pub remains closed for the foreseeable future.

“The Cheesewring management would like to thank everyone for their kind message of support, and offers of help. We look forward to being open as quickly as possible, and welcoming everyone back to The Cheesewring Hotel.”