WATCH; Nearby homes evacuated as fire destroys Vale shed
NEARBY Vale residents were evacuated for their safety when a large shed went up in flames last night.
Plumes of smoke were billowing upwards after the storage shed caught on fire near Beaucette Marina in the early evening.
Guernsey Fire and Rescue, Guernsey Police and Civil Protection were called to La Lande, near the marina, at 5.37pm after the Joint Emergency Services Control Centre received numerous calls about the fire from residents.
Station officer in operation Gary Van der Linden said nine firefighters were initially called to the site and a total of four fire applicances were deployed.
‘On arrival, the fire was coming through the light-structure roof.
‘The garage/shed conversion was 20 metres by 10 metres and it was believed to have been used for storage.’
The structure had four sides, one of which was large doors and the other three were solid walls.
‘There were quite large smoke plumes going straight up from the structure, so we evacuated three nearby properties right away.’
Once the fire was extinguished, only the three walls remained and almost all of the contents in the shed and the roof had been destroyed.
Beams were falling from the structure and loud bangs were heard so a defensive firefighting approach was taken.
At 7.20pm Firefighter Van der Linden said: ‘At the moment we believe the fire is all out and we are dampening down the area and checking all around to make sure it is safe for residents to return.’
He anticipated that they would be able to return to their properties within the hour.
‘Right now we do not know the exact cause of the fire but an investigation will take place into what went on.
‘We now need to talk to the owner of the structure to find out exactly what activities went on in the shed but thankfully no one was involved in the incident.’
Police Sergeant 114 Asa Flatres said officers arrived on scene at 5.45pm and realised it was a large structural fire. They were recommended not to let residents and neighbours within a 100-metre radius.
‘Given the volume of residents nearby, a number were removed from their homes for safety.’
Contact was made with CT Plus and the Salvation Army at L’Islet and police requested that buses were used to transport residents to the Salvation Army because it was unclear how long the area would be cordoned off for.
‘Residents reported hearing bangs coming from the structure, which we believe were flares and gas canisters.’
He said that there were no reports of casualties or injury and no one was inside the structure. However, police suspected some asbestos was burning, which was why the evacuation was advised.
‘Our colleagues at Civil Protection came and made sure that all cordons were intact, allowing the emergency services to work in a more sterile environment.’
Civil Protection officer Tony Rive said he and the team were called to manage traffic in the area and keep islanders away from the scene so firefighters could tackle the blaze.
Vehicles were kept clear from the area as it was made safe so that the fire teams would not get blocked in when they wanted to leave.
Anyone with any information regarding the incident is asked to contact PC 85 de la Mare or PC 100 Simon on 725111.
