A CREMATORIUM director has reassured residents that its service remains “completely unaffected” after an overnight fire broke out at the site earlier this month.

Firefighters attended a blaze at Charlton Park Crematorium, in Charlton Down, during the early hours of Friday, April 17.

Crews from across the county and beyond were at the scene for more than two hours after a fire broke out in a first-floor air duct.

But the company’s customer experience director, Catherine Powell, has offered assurances that the crematorium’s service remains unaffected by the incident.

“I am pleased to report that our well-trained team executed our emergency procedures perfectly,” she said.

“This means that all other aspects of our service, our operations and client care remain completely unaffected and are operating normally, including traditional funeral services and this is being communicated to all of the funeral homes that use our venue.”

The company has also explained that a temporary storage area that was set up the site the following the day was not related to the fire, and nor was it a ‘temporary mortuary’.

A statement from Pure Cremation added: “This storage will house a large quantity of coffins ready for use so that Pure Cremation can continue to meet increased demand for our services as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We want to be clear that this is not a temporary mortuary as there is adequate capacity in our state of the art client care area.”

As reported in the Advertiser, six fire crews from Andover, Ludgershall, Whitchurch, Sutton Scotney, Basingstoke and Eastleigh attended a “commercial” fire in Charlton Down just after half past midnight on April 17.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service has since confirmed the exact location of this fire as being the Charlton Park Crematorium building.

A spokesperson said: “We were called at 00:37 on 17 April to a fire at a crematorium on Andover Road in Charlton Down.

“Crews from Andover, Sutton Scotney, Basingstoke, Eastleigh, Whitchurch and Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Rescue Service attended the first floor fire.

“The fire in the cremator ducting which had caused slight damage to nearby panelling was extinguished using eight sets of breathing apparatus, one hose reel jet and one main jet.

“The stop message came in at 02:59 when crews started to leave the scene.”