MASSIVE BLAZE: TWO LORRIES, WHEELIE BINS AND SCOUTS HQ DESTROYED

Two delivery articulated lorries parked next to the temporary store set up in Wainwright Road car park to distribute bins to 40,000 Rother homes as part of its recycling project were destroyed in Sunday night's inferno.

Householders in Reginald Road whose homes overlook the car park had to be evacuated as gas cylinders in the lorries exploded. Police cordoned off Reginald Road, Wainwright Road and Beeching Road as 10 fire crews tackled the blaze.

The glow could be seen from a mile away as towering flames from the huge stack of plastic bins, from the Scout hq and from the lorries' fuel tanks lit up the sky.

Topping the flames was a colossal column of dense black smoke.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue and police immediately started an investigation into the cause of the blaze.

Fire crews from Bexhill, Hastings, Battle, Broad Oak and Pevensey under the direction of Area Manager Derek Masson surrounded the wire-fenced temporary compound and adjacent Scout hq after the alarm was raised at 10.36pm.

They used three hydrants to get enough water to keep the blaze contained and stop it spreading to the garage at the end of Victoria Road.

An aerial ladder platform was used to direct water onto the flames from above.

Because of the danger posed by camping gas cylinders stored in the Scout hq and the risk that further cylinders might be on the blazing lorries, drivers removed their trucks from overnight parking bays in the adjoining Rother lorry park.

Buses and coaches from the Renown Coaches depot were also moved.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue, still suffering from specialist vehicle losses in last year's Ringmer fireworks factory tragedy, had to borrow a mobile incident command post from West Sussex.

At the command post at around 1am, Mr Masson told the Observer: "We have had a few cylinders popping off, probably LPG from the lorries.

"I am quite confident now that we have the fire under control. Environmental Health are doing an assessment for me now of the issues involved.

"We have the fire surrounded. We are just holding it at the moment - it's not going anywhere. We have it contained.

"We are not sure where it started or how. We won't know until the investigation gets under way tomorrow."

Homes as far away as Amherst Road were blacked-out as a result of the blaze.

Mr Masson said: "There is a small electricity sub-station on the far side of the car park. We were concerned about it and called EDF. They have shut it down for the moment."

For Cub Scout assistant leader Shirley Gilbertson a day which had included Senlac Scouts' triumphal centenary St George's Day parade and service at Battle ended in heart-break.

At the incident command post, Shirley helped fire officers draw up a sketch plan of the Ninth's headquarters.

The firefighters were anxious to pin-point the camping gas store.

But for Shirley and her colleagues loss of the headquarters is compounded by the fact that the town centre building was about to be used for an exhibition of photographs and artefacts illustrating 100 years of Scouting.

Shirley told the Observer: "We had all the old photographs around the walls - camps, Chief Scout awards, the lot.

"There was also a collection of Scouting equipment down the years, including the old trek cart.

"It's all irreplaceable'¦"