Residents evacuated from Barchester Healthcare's newly opened Iverley View care home in Stourbridge have now returned following last week's wildfire incident.
TCHE understands that all residents were safely returned to the 55-bed home on Tuesday 18 August after being temporarily relocated to nearby Barchester services as a precaution while fire crews dealt with wildfires close to the property on Norton Road.
As previously reported by TCHE, residents were moved to sister Barchester homes in the area after fires broke out on land opposite the home last Thursday (13th August), causing “minor damage” to the new build’s guttering. Five residents were accommodated at Broadway Halls care home in Dudley, while a further seven residents were transferred to Hollyfields in Kidderminster.
The evacuation took place just weeks after the opening of Iverley View, one of Barchester's newest care developments in the West Midlands. Barchester said the swift relocation was carried out as a “precautionary” measure while emergency services continued to tackle hotspots in the area.
The Prime Minister Andy Burnham visited the area and was pictured speaking to residents and media outside the home (pictured) last Friday during the ongoing efforts to contain the fires that caused extensive damage to residential properties in the area.
The return of residents comes ahead of the home's planned official launch event, which was scheduled to take place this Saturday(22nd August), but will now take place on a later date to be confirmed shortly, TCHE has learned.
