Blast danger averted

Jets of water were sprayed onto the cylinders to cool them down after a blaze broke out at the Burgess Plant Yard, on the A27 at Castle Goring at 2am on Thursday morning.

Speaking at the scene, station officer Steve Burrows said: "There were three acetelyne cylinders and five oxygen cylinders. The acetelyne cyclinders are potentially very dangerous and unpredictable."

The A27 was closed and an exlusion zone set up around the site while firefighters tackled the blaze and made the area safe.

Senior fire investigations officers are looking at what caused the fire, which appears to have been started in two or three separate places.

The alarm was raised at around 2am. Three engines from Worthing fire station were initially sent but were soon joined by colleagues from Shoreham, Littlehampton and Bognor.

There was no water supply near the yard so crews had to use a nearby hydrant at the Little Chef, ferrying the water back and dumping it into an inflatable pool.

A spokesman for West Sussex Fire Brigade said: "Crews quickly attacked the fire and soon became aware the fire involved acetelyne cylinders.

"The crews withdrew at that stage and took up defensive fire fighting and applied cooling water to the cylinders.

"During the incident the A27 was closed to allow safe fire fighting operations."