Fawcett Road fire: Suspected cannabis factory discovered at site of blaze in Southsea flat where roof collapsed

Firefighters from across the area were called to a first-floor fire in a flat above a shop in Fawcett Road, Southsea last night.

When they got there they called police and a suspected cannabis factory was found. Police are now investigating and say no arrests have been made yet.

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Crews from Southsea, Havant, Cosham and Portchester among others all attended – 20 firefighters had to go into the building to check for occupants and get neighbours to leave their homes.

Crew manager Robert Gargaro from Southsea Fire Station said: ‘Smoke and flames was coming from the roof of the property when we arrived. There were not people inside the property but there were people in adjoining buildings, and underneath. The crews had to get them out – there were about six people who were oblivious or didn’t want to leave. We tried to impress on them that the fire was quite bad, but we were met with some resistance.’

A Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: ‘Hampshire Constabulary officers were on the scene as well as the electricity company who were able to isolate the power supply externally due to the roof collapsing on the first-floor.’

Relief crews from Hightown and Fareham attended during the night as crews dampened down.

The Southsea crew left Fawcett Road at 4am today.

The stop message came in at 06:07 before firefighters returned in the morning to check for further hotspots.

Police and fire investigators are looking into the cause of the blaze today. Nobody was injured.

More to follow