UPDATE: Firefighters give the all-clear after fire at Portsmouth Naval Base
Firefighters from Southsea, Cosham and Portchester fire stations were called to the blaze near the base’s Trafalgar Gate, shortly after 7.30pm.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze involved ‘rubbish’ at the side of a warehouse, and that the fire was adjacent to a commercial building, but did not spread.
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Hide AdWatch manager Jamie Wren, who attended the incident, says that the fire started in waste containers, and that these containers were to blame for the billowing smoke that covered the skies.
He said: ‘We can confirm that the fire was inside Portsmouth Naval Base.
‘There was a large number of waste containers outside a warehouse – these containers started the fire, which then spread to a couple of forklift trucks and some plastic drums, which were all engulfed in the flames.
‘The smoke was because the containers were made of plastic.’
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Hide AdWatch manager Wren says firefighters were on the scene for about two-and-a-half hours tackling the blaze – but nobody was injured.
He said: ‘It was a fairly big fire – had it gone on for much longer it could have spread into the warehouse.
‘The fire has been put out and we have now left the area with the naval base’s emergency response team, so it is in their hands to start the clean-up job.
‘But the whole area is now safe.’