Fareham residents evacuated after retail park blaze say they complained about hazard tyres

More than 20 firefighters from five fire stations were called to a blaze in a storage yard in the retail park in Southampton Road, Fareham, at 8.30pm last night.

The fire destroyed three Halfords tyre fitting van in a storage yard and had begun to spread to a nearby house in The Willows, an adjacent private road, when fire fighters arrived.

It comes just two months after a resident of the Willows warned staff at the Halfords store that the hundreds of tyres stored in the retail park were ‘a fire hazard’.

Paul Trickett, who lives in The Willows, said: ‘There were a couple of hundred tyres in the parking area near a bungalow on Southampton Road.

‘I told the assistant manager they were a fire hazard about two months ago.

‘It was a fire waiting to happen.

‘(The tyres) were moved into a gated yard – closer to our homes.’

Fire fighters tackled the blaze for more than four hours, which was extinguished without anyone sustaining injuries – but it could easily have been ‘very different’ according to Paul’s daughter, who is 35 weeks pregnant and lives on the same road.

Charlotte Harry, a nurse, said: 'We were watching television and we could smell burning. We thought it was someone having a barbecue.

'(My husband) went upstairs to close the window and then we carried on watching TV.

‘Next thing we knew, one of our neighbours was outside shouting for us to get out.

‘From checking the window to us getting outside, it was two minutes at the most - it went up so quickly.’

The fire had begun to burn and melt the fascia of the property connected to Charlotte’s, leaving her panic-stricken.

‘I was hysterical,’ she said. ‘I thought, ‘that’s my whole life that’s about to go up in flames’.

‘No-one was hurt, but if it happened in the middle of the night it would have been a very different.’

A Halfords spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that the fire service attended a fire in a locked compound at our Fareham store which involved three Halfords Tyres On The Drive vans and a stock of tyres.

‘The tyres were moved to this locked compound recently following guidance from the council. No-one was hurt in this incident and we are grateful to the fire service and police for responding so quickly. We are now in the process of moving our stock of tyres to a secure container, and are working closely to support residents affected by this incident.’

A spokesman from Hampshire Constabulary said the cause of the fire was still being investigated, and that an investigation scene had been set up.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police on 101 and quote 44200159388.

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