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| Fire in gas-cylinder shed forces evacuation |
7 April 2006
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A NUMBER of homes in the Hilltown area were evacuated for 24 hours after a fire broke out in a shed containing highly explosive gas cylinders. The houses were cleared shortly before 1pm on Sunday after the fire was detected at a farm on the Castlewellan Road which was still cordoned off yesterday.
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Fire Service said they decided to evacuate up to 12 homes in a 200-metre radius after it was discovered that a number of cylinders containing various substances were being stored in the shed.
“The most serious was the one containing acetylene,” the spokesman told the Democrat. “This was very risky because if acetylene is exposed to heat, it can explode without warning.
” The road remained closed off until yesterday afternoon to ensure that the acetylene cylinder had cooled down before it was removed from the shed. Crews were advised throughout the operation by representatives of the British Oxygen Company, the Fire Service spokesman added. Meanwhile, a woman was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and shock after a fire broke out in an apartment in Great George’s Street in Warrenpoint on Saturday night.
It is understood that a man who was also in the apartment managed to make his own escape, while the woman became trapped and had to be rescued by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus. The blaze is believed to have been caused by a chip pan.
A burning chip pan was also behind a fire which broke out at a house in the Newtown Villas area of Rostrevor on Sunday afternoon. No-one was injured in this incident.
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