Explosion fear as 40 fight blaze

Nearly 40 firefighters tackled a huge blaze at a business near Wolverhampton as it was feared cylinders inside the building could explode.

Workers were at Deans of Telford Ltd, Lamledge Lane in Shifnal, when the fire took hold. The cause of the fire, which started at 8pm last night, was being investigated today. Crews from across the county were called to the unit, including extra pumping units due to the poor water supply in the area, to stop the blaze spreading to nearby units.

Trains on the main Wolverhampton line were stopped and an ambulance were on stand-by.

Pete Hawkins, watch manager at Telford Central fire station said: "The fire involved racking which contained boxes of car parts, pallets, a diesel tank and a number of cylinders.

"We managed to prevent the fire spreading to an engineering works and the fire was under control within 60 minutes. When we arrived the fire was that involved we could have lost the whole building."

He said three people were inside the building on arrival, including two workers who reported the fire, and were safely evacuated. A total of 36 firefighters from six pumps were at the scene at the height of the fire.

Meanwhile, firefighters had to rescue a man from a first floor flat in Bridgnorth today after cushions caught fire. Crews were called to the flat at Waterloo Terrace at just after 4.30am.

They forced entry to the flat through a door.

And in Wolverhampton, a van was gutted and a nearby building severely smoke-logged in a blaze .

The vehicle was in the yard of Grasshopper Babywear in Gatis Street, Whitmore Reans, yesterday afternoon. The heat melted plastic window linings at the business. Firefighters believe an electrical fault in the van engine was to blame.