Witnesses describe Albert Road fire drama

Witnesses today described the dramatic scenes as fire ripped through a dry cleaners in Southsea.

By The Newsroom

Published 21st Dec 2016, 09:10 BST

Updated 29th Dec 2016, 15:29 BST

They said that a series of small bangs similar to gunfire were heard as the blaze took hold at Impress Dry Cleaners in Albert Road.

Sally Barker, who lives in nearby Leopold Street, said: ‘The noise of the blaze woke me up at around 6am.

‘It sounded like three gunshots - bang, bang, bang! I don’t know how well the fire was started by then but I looked out of my bedroom window and could see firefighters in the road.’

Her daughter, Hermione Troke, 12, said: ‘I was really scared. I turned on the lights to see what was going on and there were lots of firefighters in the road.’

Southsea