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Fire chiefs face quiz on Featherstone gas blast
PIC: Mark Readman
Fire Service bosses will be quizzed about public safety in the wake of a devastating explosion that saw 300ft flames shoot into the sky.
Questions over the storage of acetylene cylinders which were involved in the blast in Featherstone last year will be under the spotlight at a meeting of Wakefield’s community safety watchdogs next week.
As reported in the YEP, the blaze saw more than 30 firefighters from Castleford, Pontefract, Knottingley and Featherstone tackle the fire at Welburn Transport, on Church Lane on the evening of Thursday March 31 last year.
Hundreds of residents fled their homes as fire crews cooled acetylene cylinders which were in danger of exploding.
Wakefield Council’s Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee will, on February 6, grill a representative from West Yorkshire Fire and rescue Service about the dangers of storing and using the cylinders.
A report to the committee says: “Concerns were raised that residents had not had any feedback as to the outcome of investigations into the incident and continued to be concerned for their safety.”
It adds: “Given the nature of the incident and its close proximity to a residential area, local people needed reassurance that steps were being taken to ensure such an incident did not happen again.”
Two men were taken to hospital with flash burns and smoke inhalation after the fire, which saw a 200m exclusion zone put in place, local roads and a school closed.
Residents compared the explosion to a bomb blast.
Acetylene is a gas used in cutting and welding and is extremely flammable.
The report adds: “Wider issues about the storage of these cylinders have been raised by members at previous meetings, for example cylinders left on the back of parked vehicles overnight.”
Damage done by the blast was so severe that no official cause could ever be established.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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