Updated: Man killed in explosion is named
THE MAN who died in a fire after an electricity sub-station exploded has been named.
John Higgins, 59, was killed after the fire took hold in Bishop Hall Lane, close to the Rivermead campus of the Anglia Ruskin University, in Chelmsford, at about 12.15pm on Wednesday.
The fire left thousands of homes in Chelmsford without power and 8,000 university students had to be evacuated as a 200-metre exclusion zone was set up around the site.
A post-mortem carried out today showed he died of burns and an inhalation of toxic gases.
The family of Mr Higgins, who lived in Albany Road, West Bergholt, said in a joint statement that his death had been a "pointless loss of life".
They added: "We are devastated by the loss of John, a wonderful loving husband, son, father, grandfather, brother, and a good friend to so many.
"John has left a huge hole in our lives which will never be filled.
"He was looking forward to a well-deserved early retirement with his wife Sheila in six months time and had absolutely everything to live for."
The family thanked the Police for their support throughout the ordeal.
They added they would be "following the investigation very closely as we need to comprehend the circumstances that led to this horrific incident."
2:52pm Friday 9th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: rose, brentwood on 4:47pm Wed 7 May 08
[bold]I am a student from anglia ruskin university and was there when this tragic incident was taking place. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the man who sadly died. A tragic day, heaven has gained another angel, rest in peace.[/bold]
I am a student from anglia ruskin university and was there when this tragic incident was taking place. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the man who sadly died. A tragic day, heaven has gained another angel, rest in peace. Posted by: rosemary, clacton on 4:51pm Wed 7 May 08
Also a student at anglia ruskin and was there today was shocked to hear that someone was killed. My thoughts are with the family and friends of the man that died
Also a student at anglia ruskin and was there today was shocked to hear that someone was killed. My thoughts are with the family and friends of the man that died
Posted by: Neil, Chelmsford on 5:21pm Wed 7 May 08
[bold]Yes, I go to a secondary school near the substation, we were evacuated.
I was also shocked to hear of the death, and the family of the man who died will be in my thoughts tonight.[/bold]
Yes, I go to a secondary school near the substation, we were evacuated.
I was also shocked to hear of the death, and the family of the man who died will be in my thoughts tonight. Posted by: Adrain, Chelmsford on 5:30pm Wed 7 May 08
I'm a student at boswells in Springfeild. The power we saw the smoke at lunch but didn't think much of it. I knew it was a big fire. The power went out in the next lesson then we were told to stay in that lesson and not go outside. Now I know why. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the one man who died and to anyone else who got hurt.
I'm a student at boswells in Springfeild. The power we saw the smoke at lunch but didn't think much of it. I knew it was a big fire. The power went out in the next lesson then we were told to stay in that lesson and not go outside. Now I know why. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the one man who died and to anyone else who got hurt.
Posted by: Sue, Essex on 6:32pm Wed 7 May 08
Members of staff were working in William Harvey building one of the buildings adjacent to this substation up on second floor when a colleague saw flames several feet high rising from the substation. Staff were evacuated but intitially were told to go back inside our building until minutes later when someone came inside to inform us we were to leave immediately evacuate to Michael Ashcroft building. As it became clear it was unsafe to remain there also shortly after the first engine arrived at the scene staff and students were evacuated from there and advised by police to start moving away directly from surrounding area and rivermead itself. [bold]bold[/bold] [italic]italic[/italic]
Members of staff were working in William Harvey building one of the buildings adjacent to this substation up on second floor when a colleague saw flames several feet high rising from the substation. Staff were evacuated but intitially were told to go back inside our building until minutes later when someone came inside to inform us we were to leave immediately evacuate to Michael Ashcroft building. As it became clear it was unsafe to remain there also shortly after the first engine arrived at the scene staff and students were evacuated from there and advised by police to start moving away directly from surrounding area and rivermead itself.
Posted by: APR, Benfleet on 7:28pm Wed 7 May 08
Seems like it was an EDF employee who died. A terrible thing to happen.
Seems like it was an EDF employee who died. A terrible thing to happen.
Posted by: Andy, Rayleigh on 9:48pm Wed 7 May 08
That is almost certainly 132 Kilovolts (KV) not 132 Kilowatts (KW) ... if several thousand premises were being supplied the power needed would be in the Megawatts range.
That is almost certainly 132 Kilovolts (KV) not 132 Kilowatts (KW) ... if several thousand premises were being supplied the power needed would be in the Megawatts range.
Posted by: Chris, Chelmsford on 11:46pm Wed 7 May 08
I live within a stone's throw of Anglia Ruskin, came home after being sent home from work due to the loss of power -- to find ours was out too, and the inside of the house was filled with thick smoke (like twilight at 4pm, lol...) was pretty scary stuff.
Sad to hear about the EDF employee who died, my thoughts are with his family and friends. Hopefully this will prompt some research into better safety at high-voltage installations like this to prevent a tragic accident happening again.
I live within a stone's throw of Anglia Ruskin, came home after being sent home from work due to the loss of power -- to find ours was out too, and the inside of the house was filled with thick smoke (like twilight at 4pm, lol...) was pretty scary stuff.
Sad to hear about the EDF employee who died, my thoughts are with his family and friends. Hopefully this will prompt some research into better safety at high-voltage installations like this to prevent a tragic accident happening again.
Posted by: Tony, Lincoln on 8:38am Thu 8 May 08
There have been far too many fatalities during the last few months wihin the eastern electricity area since EDF took on the business from Eastern Electricity.
My thoughts goes out to the family and friends of the one man who died.
There have been far too many fatalities during the last few months wihin the eastern electricity area since EDF took on the business from Eastern Electricity.
My thoughts goes out to the family and friends of the one man who died.
Posted by: Optimist, Essex on 10:38am Thu 8 May 08
Its a good job the Fire Service were not on a one day strike over their pension problems!
We really do take them for granted don't we and our government/home office
treat them with contempt.
Its a good job the Fire Service were not on a one day strike over their pension problems!
We really do take them for granted don't we and our government/home office
treat them with contempt.
Posted by: S, Norfolk on 12:40pm Thu 8 May 08
Another grim day for EDF Energy I make that now 4 death's now in the past year. My thoughts go out for the poor man's family.."As he was just doing his job"
Another grim day for EDF Energy I make that now 4 death's now in the past year. My thoughts go out for the poor man's family.."As he was just doing his job"
Posted by: guy, Leigh-On-Sea on 1:08pm Thu 8 May 08
[quote][bold]Andy[/bold] wrote:
That is almost certainly 132 Kilovolts (KV) not 132 Kilowatts (KW) ... if several thousand premises were being supplied the power needed would be in the Megawatts range.[/quote] Don't be so boring, who cares if its watts, volts or anything else one person has died and lots of premises lost power and all you care about is whether its volts, watts, kilovolts etc.
Andy wrote:
That is almost certainly 132 Kilovolts (KV) not 132 Kilowatts (KW) ... if several thousand premises were being supplied the power needed would be in the Megawatts range.
Don't be so boring, who cares if its watts, volts or anything else one person has died and lots of premises lost power and all you care about is whether its volts, watts, kilovolts etc.
Posted by: Sophie, Chelmsford on 5:19pm Sat 10 May 08
[bold]My heart goes out for the family of John Higgins! What a terrible thing to happen happen to a great man, who was only doing his job![/bold]
My heart goes out for the family of John Higgins! What a terrible thing to happen happen to a great man, who was only doing his job! Posted by: William on 4:35pm Mon 12 May 08
[quote][bold]Tony[/bold] wrote:
There have been far too many fatalities during the last few months wihin the eastern electricity area since EDF took on the business from Eastern Electricity.
My thoughts goes out to the family and friends of the one man who died.[/quote] Yes, EDF have BIG problems. It's time we took the distribution companies back into public ownership.
From my understanding he was manually winding a live on-load tap-changer.
Obviously, something wrong with the equipment in the first instance to have to do this manually (why was the telecontrol or remote control not working?). Then obviously, a catastrophic failure with the mechanism itself.
Such a pointless waste of life. Let's hope the H&S get to the bottom of this and real lessons are learned.
Tony wrote:
There have been far too many fatalities during the last few months wihin the eastern electricity area since EDF took on the business from Eastern Electricity.
My thoughts goes out to the family and friends of the one man who died.
Yes, EDF have BIG problems. It's time we took the distribution companies back into public ownership.
From my understanding he was manually winding a live on-load tap-changer.
Obviously, something wrong with the equipment in the first instance to have to do this manually (why was the telecontrol or remote control not working?). Then obviously, a catastrophic failure with the mechanism itself.
Such a pointless waste of life. Let's hope the H&S get to the bottom of this and real lessons are learned.
Posted by: John, London on 5:24pm Thu 15 May 08
[quote][bold]William[/bold] wrote:
[quote][bold]Tony[/bold] wrote: There have been far too many fatalities during the last few months wihin the eastern electricity area since EDF took on the business from Eastern Electricity. My thoughts goes out to the family and friends of the one man who died.[/quote] Yes, EDF have BIG problems. It\'s time we took the distribution companies back into public ownership. From my understanding he was manually winding a live on-load tap-changer. Obviously, something wrong with the equipment in the first instance to have to do this manually (why was the telecontrol or remote control not working?). Then obviously, a catastrophic failure with the mechanism itself. Such a pointless waste of life. Let\'s hope the H&S get to the bottom of this and real lessons are learned.[/quote] Paul Cuttill is the man in charge at EDF Energy whilst all 4 deaths have occurred, surely it's time for him to resign and be held accountable for his responsibilities.
William wrote:
Tony wrote: There have been far too many fatalities during the last few months wihin the eastern electricity area since EDF took on the business from Eastern Electricity. My thoughts goes out to the family and friends of the one man who died.
Yes, EDF have BIG problems. It\'s time we took the distribution companies back into public ownership. From my understanding he was manually winding a live on-load tap-changer. Obviously, something wrong with the equipment in the first instance to have to do this manually (why was the telecontrol or remote control not working?). Then obviously, a catastrophic failure with the mechanism itself. Such a pointless waste of life. Let\'s hope the H&S get to the bottom of this and real lessons are learned.
Paul Cuttill is the man in charge at EDF Energy whilst all 4 deaths have occurred, surely it's time for him to resign and be held accountable for his responsibilities.
Posted by: Shirley, Chelmsford on 12:06pm Fri 16 May 08
Where is the support from EDF Energy to such a tragic and avoidable loss of life? Do they care for their people? It's good to see the police take care, perhaps the police should take care of EDF Energy!
Where is the support from EDF Energy to such a tragic and avoidable loss of life? Do they care for their people? It's good to see the police take care, perhaps the police should take care of EDF Energy!
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