Nine flee after fire breaks out at county pub

Fire ripped through a 17th century public house in Shropshire in the early hours of today.

Nine people were evacuated from the Plume of Feathers in Harley Bank, near Much Wenlock, at 3am this morning.

The fire broke out on the ground floor of the building.

Fifteen firefighters from across the area were called to tackle the fire, which took crews about an hour to put out.

Tony Druce, watch manager at Telford Central, said the fire was well alight on arrival.

He said: "We were called at 3am to the Plume of Feather pub on the A458 at Harley Bank, near Much Wenlock.

"We had crews from Much Wenlock, Tweedale, Telford and Wellington as well as the incident commander from Shrewsbury.

"Upon arrival we discovered that nine people had been evacuated safely prior to our arrival and nobody suffered any injuries.

"The area of the building was well alight and crews used one hose reel jet, two breathing apparatus and positive pressure fan to extinguish the flames."

Crews were also called to GKN Sankey in Park Dale, Hadley Castle, at 5.15am.

One pump from Telford Central, two pumps from Wellington and the Incident Commander from Shrewsbury attended.

Mr Druce said: "We had to carry out a rim cleaning process, the building was heavily smoked logged."

He added: "Four breathing apparatus and one hose reel jet were used to put it out and we returned at 6.15am."