August 23, 2013 2.24 pm This story is over 127 months old

Homes evacuated after fire near gas cylinder in Lincoln

Fire incident: Police evacuated people living in homes in the Newark Road area of Lincoln while Fire and Rescue dealt with a shed fire near a gas cylinder.
Photo: Miriam Core

Lincolnshire Police evacuated people living in homes in the Newark Road area of Lincoln while Fire and Rescue dealt with a shed fire near a gas cylinder.

— Update @ 7pm on August 23: Newark Road is now open, and so is the top half of Stanley Street.

The bottom half of Stanley Street is sill closed and so is Saville Street.

Fire and Rescue have the incident under control and it’s expected all will be back to normal within an hour.

— Update @ 12pm on August 24: The fire in a garden shed on Saville Street has been classified as accidental by the Fire and Rescue service.

At the time of the incident concerns centred on a gas cylinder in the shed which could have exploded.

The cyclinder was made safe and all the roads and streets affected were reopened by around 7pm on Friday.

The emergency services expressed their appreciation for the cooperation of the householders, motorists and other members of the public who were inconvenienced by the incident.

The shed fire was at a house on Saville Street, off Newark Road.

Five fire appliances were in attendance after the incident was called in at 1.10pm on Friday, August 23.

A leaking acetylene cylinder and an oxygen cylinder were near the fire, which caused concern for an explosion and required cooling down.

The cause of the fire is believed to be a spark from welding equipment which ignited the shed.

Photo: Miriam Core

Photo: Miriam Core

Police created a 200-metre exclusion zone around the street and evacuated residents in Saville Street, Sydney Street, Boundary Street and the area of Newark Road between St Catherine’s and Manby Street.

No traffic, including pedestrians, were allowed between Sydney Street and Boundary Street on Newark Road.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue established a rest centre at the Priory Centre in Colegrave Street for those who couldn’t get back into their homes.

People living nearby were also told to close their doors and windows as a precaution.

Photo: Miriam Core

Photo: Miriam Core

The incident area and the exclusion zone. Map data: Google Maps

The incident area and the exclusion zone. Map data: Google Maps