Fire at Boys and Boden in Welshpool

A Welshpool builders' merchants had to be evacuated after a blaze broke out at the premises.

Firefighters were called to Boys and Boden in Mill Lane at 3.15pm yesterday after staff raised the alarm.

Crews spent more than two hours tackling it.

The Mid and West Wales Fire Service said five appliances from Welshpool, Montgomery, Newtown and Llanfyllin had been called to the scene and no-one had been injured in the fire, which was contained in the eaves of the building.

Dean Hammond, managing director at Boys and Boden, today praised the firefighters for putting out the fire so quickly.

He said: "We have a 70,000-square foot factory and employ 160 people. The fire alarms alerted everyone to the fire yesterday afternoon and we evacuated as quickly as we could.

"I saw the flames in the ceiling area and luckily within moments the five fire appliances arrived and acted extremely quickly.

"We were very lucky that no extensive damage was caused."