U.S. airmen work on a B-1 bomber parked on the apron at RAF Fairford, England, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Alastair Grant/AP)
No one was injured when a fire broke out at a storage building on RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom early Sunday, according to U.S. military and British officials.
The base in Gloucestershire, in the west of England, hosts a small permanent U.S. Air Force presence and in recent months has been used by the U.S. in operations against Iran.
“There were no injuries sustained, the fire has been contained and currently poses no risk to the base [populace] or local community,” 501st Combat Support Wing Public Affairs told Stars and Stripes in an email Sunday.
An investigation into the fire is ongoing and more information will be released as it becomes available, the 501st said.
Early indications suggest the cause of the fire was “nothing other than accidental,” according to a statement by the Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service.
Firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after getting a call just before 2 a.m. local time, the rescue service said in a statement.
“The fire involved a single-story industrial storage building. It was brought under control safely and there were no casualties,” the statement added.
Crews remained at the scene throughout the morning as a precaution, the service said.
United States Air Forces in Europe confirmed in an email Sunday morning that RAF Fairford emergency services and “partners from surrounding communities,” were responding to the incident.
“Together, we ensure the safety of our personnel, families and the surrounding community remains our top priority,” USAFE said.
Residents had been advised by local authorities to keep their doors and windows closed due to the smoke.
The U.S.’s 420th Air Base Squadron, part of the 501st Combat Support Wing, is based at RAF Fairford, USAFE’s only bomber forward operating location.
Because of its long runway, the base can host long-range B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers and has been used by the U.S. Air Force nearly continuously since it was first built for D-Day operations in 1944.
In March, shortly after the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran, the U.K. government announced that it had agreed to allow the U.S. to use British military bases for “defensive operations” in the campaign.
U.S. bombers were spotted at RAF Fairfield shortly after the announcement.
On Saturday, some 200 people gathered outside the base to protest the war in Iran, some holding placards and pictures of children killed in the conflict, the BBC reported.
The war is deeply unpopular in the U.K. Sixty-five percent of Britons disapprove of the U.S. strikes and roughly 86% of the population is worried about the conflict’s impact on gas and energy prices, according to IPSOS polling published earlier this month.
The International Monetary Fund this month predicted that the energy shock wave from the Iran war will hit the U.K. the hardest of the world’s advanced economies.
In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF cut its estimate for U.K. growth this year to 0.8%, from the 1.3% prediction made in January before the war began.
Jennifer Svan contributed to this report.
