Bank holiday blaze barrage

10:29am Monday 7th May 2007

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DOZENS of firefighters have tackled a major blaze at an industrial estate near York.

About 30 firefighters and six fire engines were called to Mennell Motors, a vehicle recovery company near Dunnington, east of York.

The blaze was one of a spate that flared up across York and North Yorkshire over the bank holiday weekend. A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service said it had been "extremely busy".

Two vehicles were destroyed and others damaged in the Mennell Motors blaze, which was believed to have been caused by an electrical fault in one of the cars in the building, in St James Business Park.

No one was injured in the fire, which started at about 10am on Sunday.

Crews from both North Yorkshire and Humberside Fire & Rescue Services - supported by a heavy rescue unit and an incident command unit - battled to stop the blaze spreading to the other units on the estate.

They succeeded in doing so - two other units were damaged by the large amount of smoke, but they escaped the flames.

A fuel tank in the Mennell Motors building containing about 500 litres of oil was also wrecked in the fire.

Station manager Roz Ramli said: "One of our concerns was the rapid spread of the fire. The unit is made from metal sheets with a flammable filling, which also produces large volumes of smoke."

Also over the weekend, firefighters had to deal with a burning car at Clifton Bridge, in Clifton, and one in Strensall. Both cars were believed to have been set alight deliberately in the early hours of Sunday.

There was alarm at Superdrug in Front Street, Acomb, when a passer-by alerted staff to flames leaping from the building on Saturday afternoon.

It turned out the fire was coming from a mattress, believed to have been set alight by teenagers, on the roof of the shop.

In another incident, a woman was taken to York Hospital after inhaling smoke from a muck heap blaze at Great Habton, near Malton. She was not thought to have been seriously injured.

Firefighters also had to deal with around 30 bales of hay on fire at Wharram-le-Street, near Malton, which were believed to have been set alight deliberately.