Fire guts workshop on Telford industrial estate

Fire ripped through a body repair shop in Telford today destroying the building and two cars.

The area around J A Barnett Accident Repair Centre, on the Heath Hill Industrial Estate, in Dawley, was also sealed off during the incident. Fire crews and police feared that there could have been an explosion as the unit contained an acetylene cannister.

Other businesses on the industrial estate lost power as a result of the fire which started at about 1.30am.

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It took 15 firefighters three hours to tackle the blaze, which also destroyed two cars in the unit.

Ian Pugh, crew manager at Wellington, said: "Once firefighters realised there was an acetylene cannister in the unit they had to take precautionary measures and fight the fire from the outside but they did manage to contain it to that unit which was destroyed by the fire."

He said the cause was unknown.

Tony Talbot, watch manager from Wellington, said they had to wait for the cannister to cool down.

"Originally the cordon was 200m but the temperature in there is going down so we have shortened the cordon to allow other businesses back into their units. We do not want to affect their livelihoods as well," he said.

"It was a severe fire but they managed to stop it spreading. Eighty per cent of the roof collapsed because of the severity of the heat."

Chris Ammonds, spokesman for Telford police, said the cordon was in place for safety reasons.

"We want to keep everybody back for their safety as a precaution," he said.

He said police would work with Shropshire Fire and Rescue to find out the cause.

Andrew Short, from Apex Fabrications, based on the Heath Hill Industrial Estate, said J A Barnett had only been there for a few months.

No one was available from J A Barnett to comment.