Families return home after fire is put out (From Witney Gazette)

Families return home after fire is put out

9:30am Wednesday 19th September 2012 in News

FAMILIES returned to their homes yesterday after spending the night in hotels to escape a potentially-explosive fire.

About 30 homes were evacuated in Little Tew, near Chipping Norton, on Monday following a fire at an outbuilding in Enstone Road.

Firefighters, who were called at 2pm on Monday, spent more than a day cooling down acetylene cylinders that were discovered in the blaze.

Acetylene is highly explosive once heated and continues to be dangerous even after the heat source is removed of the fire is extinguished.

A 200m cordon was set up around the site for the safety of firefighters and members of the place and was in place until 4pm yesterday. Families were allowed to return home after the fire service assessed the cylinders’ condition using a remote infra-red thermometer and the cordon was removed.

More than 100 firefighters from stations across Oxfordshire fought the blaze over the 24 hours.

They had left the scene by 5.15pm yesterday.