Huge fire destroys allotments
POULTRY AND PIGEONS KILLED BY BLAZE IN DRY CONDITIONS
GARDENERS watched on in horror as a fire tore through tinder-dry allotments in Northumberland, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Racing pigeons, chickens and other poultry were killed in the blaze in Blyth, which sent columns of thick black smoke into the sky over the town.
A group of allotment holders, who gathered outside the grounds to watch as firefighters brought the flames under control, said the fire spread quickly.
Stephen Danielson, allotment association secretary, said eight or nine plots had been destroyed.
He said: “It started about 9.50 this morning. I was working when it started.
“I just saw the smoke and ran over to see if someone was having a fire, which you’re not allowed to do at this time of year.
“We think it was a piece of glass magnifying against a pile of rubbish, and in this heat it’s all gone up. People had chickens in there, ducks, pheasant, a whole cree of pigeons has gone.”
Former allotment holder George Tench said he’d lost his own plot to a fire about three years ago.
“That’s years and years of work,” he said. “For some people that’s 30 years of work just gone up in smoke.”
Ken and Joan English watched the fire grow from their home opposite the allotment site.
Ken, 55, said: “We’d been sitting watching the smoke, then halfway through I was sitting in the garden and something exploded.
“It felt like an atom bomb, it was really loud. At that point, there was a plume of black smoke, around 25ft in the air.”
Joan, 58, said it had been “quite frightening” watching the huge fire from so close.
Watching with them, Kim Pink, 27, said: “It spread very quickly. It was just a bit of smoke and then it got bigger and bigger and bigger.”
By 3pm yesterday, the fire was under control and most emergency service vehicles had left the area.
Officers from Northumbria Police attended the fire, but the force confirmed there was no suspicion of criminal activity.