Homes evacuated after car sets alight
MORE than a dozen houses were evacuated after the heat from a car fire caused a gas pipe at a house to rupture.
Police and fire service were called to the incident on Church Street in Dukinfield on Saturday.
Residents were evacuated - some to Dukinfield town hall - and kept out of their homes for more than three hours. Nearby streets were closed to traffic while firefighters and gas engineers worked to fix the gas leak and make the area safe.
A Manchester Fire and Rescue spokesman said that two fire appliances from Stalybridge and Hyde were called.
He said: “We took the call at 12.15pm to reports of a car on fire. Because of the car on fire there were worries about an external gas intake to one of those houses.
“The fire was causing gas from the intake to leak out so we were taking gas readings making sure everything was okay. Thirteen houses were evacuated.
“The fire had spread to the external fittings on a neighbour’s house and the heat caused an external gas intake through a pipe to rupture causing gas to leak out.
It is not yet known what caused the car, believed to be a Citroen MPV, to catch fire.
There were no injuries reported and the area has now been declared safe following the gas leak.
“Evacuated residents returned to their homes at 3.30pm.
Witness Mark Johnson arrived on the scene after he heard an ‘explosion’ while at work at travel agency Disabled Holidays, on neighbouring King Street.
He told the M.E.N. that he then heard a further two explosions.
Mark said: “We heard the explosion and then saw the smoke coming from Church Street, we then went to see what was going on and arrived at Church Street to see the car bonnet on fire, then the car exploded twice within a few minutes so we then stood back as we could feel the heat from the car. One of the residents’ doors then set alight.
“By this time the fire department and police had arrived to cordon off the area. It wasn’t nice at all more so for the residents who live on the street.”
One resident said they believed the fire started due to a fault with the vehicle.
The neighbour said: “It is a car from one of the houses on the street and apparently there was a fault with it.
“We were told to leave at about 12.30pm and we were out for about four hours. I went to the supermarket for a cup of tea.”
The charred remains of the car were cleared up by council staff after the fire service and gas workers had left the scene.