Smoke pours across Dudley town centre as fire destroys car
Roads were closed and smoke poured across a town centre when a fire ripped through a car.
The blaze happened on Ednam Road in Dudley, between the college and council buildings, at around 3.50pm on Tuesday and is believed to have been started by a mechanical fault.
The roads around the fire were closed off as eight firefighters from Tipton and Dudley fought the blaze, which left thick smoke billowing up into the air, with West Midlands Police directing traffic away from the scene.
Using breathing apparatus and hose reels, the firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze, which left the car completely gutted and also distorted the bumper of the car parked in front of it.
A spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service said: "We were called at 3.52pm to reports of a vehicle fire on the junction of Ednam Road and Priory Road in Dudley.
"We sent one fire engine and a brigade response vehicle with eight firefighters from Tipton and Dudley fire stations to the scene.
"On arrival, they found a severe fire inside a car park on Ednam Road and used breathing apparatus and hose reels to put out the blaze, which crews believe to have been started by a mechanical fault.
"The vehicle was parked behind another car, which only had a slight distortion to its bumper, whereas this vehicle was completely destroyed and the owner was left to liaise with his recovery company to get the vehicle recovered.
"West Midlands Police were on the scene to undertake traffic duties and direct traffic away from the scene."
A number of people were seen near the scene taking pictures and watching what was happening.
Taylor Harvey was working near Dudley Market in a burger van when he said he saw a lot of smoke rising into the air.
He said: "I walked down from the market to where the majority of the smoke was coming from and saw a car on fire.
"Literally minutes later, the fire service arrived and they put out the fire straight away, but there was a lot of smoke and I was struggling to breathe as I was walking down.
"It's the first time I've seen something like this happen, but all praise to the fire service as they got there really quickly and put it out just as quickly."
