Eight fire engines from across Norfolk and Cambridgeshire were called out on Monday after flames were spotted in windows at the local fire station at about 12.30am.
“Normally we go to other people’s fires, but tonight we had to go to our own,” said Norfolk’s deputy chief fire officer Roy Harold.
“I think there is a fire safety message there for us. This building’s relatively new, but it wasn’t sprinklered.
“If it’d been fitted with sprinklers, we wouldn’t be here today chatting about this because the fire would’ve been put out very, very quickly automatically.
“We now ask all new building developments to consider sprinklers very strongly.”
Nobody was injured in the blaze, which started in the fire engine bay.
The fire engine and thousands of pounds worth of fire-fighting equipment was destroyed in the fire. Replacements have already been provided, but are being kept at the nearby police station.
It’s not the first time firefighters have been called to a fire station blaze. Only in 2012 firefighters battled a blaze in North Berwick, Scotland, while in 2009 a station in County Down, Northern Ireland was also destroyed by fire.
A fire station in New York burned down only two weeks ago, with one firefighter suffering minor injuries.
Nigel Williams, Norfolk’s chief fire officer, said: “Our priority today is to provide full fire cover for the people of Downham and I am pleased that this has been achieved very quickly.”
Dan Roper, Norfolk county council cabinet member for public protection, said: “Although incidents like this are very rare, we have contingency plans in place to deal with emergencies such as this.
“This event reminds us that nobody is immune when a fire breaks out.”
An investigation into the fire has been launched.
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Not to forget the Fire College – Moreton-in-Marsh fire in 2009