A fire at a Hebburn industrial estate sent huge clouds of black smoke billowing across Tyneside on Sunday.
Firefighters warned locals to keep their windows closed as they battled for hours to gain control of the blaze, which broke out in a building on the Robert Frazer Industrial Estate, off Station Road and Argyle Street in the South Tyneside town.
The affected buildings, which sit among several empty and abandoned former industrial units, are believed to have been derelict before the fire. One of the buildings, which was left with a partially destroyed roof, was a former tyre and car repair centre, and it's thought that the presence of some tyres among the burning material contributed to the dense black smoke which could be seen for several miles around.
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Fire crews confirmed they arrived at the scene at 10.50am on Sunday, with a total of five engines, 26 firefighters and an incident command unity sent to the area.
At nearby Italian restaurant Mabo II, staff were determined to continue serving up their popular Sunday lunches, despite the presence of several fire engines right outside their front door. Waiter Aaron Wade, who captured dramatic video of the worse of the fire, above, said he got a shock when he arrived on Station Road to see a fire so close to his workplace.
He said: "You could hear pops and bangs, there were explosions… I came down about 11 because I only live down the road so I came to see what was happening - I could see the smoke from my house.”
At Fountain Park, just a few hundred metres away from the industrial estate, children were enjoying a Bank Holiday funfair. But for part of the morning, their revelry was overcast by the dark clouds of smoke rising into the air so nearby.
Graeme Anderson had been in the area since before the fair opened, at 11am, to sell toys to families as they headed inside. He saw smoke beginning to fill the sky at around 10.50, and had to move further away from the noxious clouds.
He said: “I was further down earlier, I was coughing up and I felt physically sick. I had to get away from it. You could smell it on your clothes afterwards. I was shocked - I walk down there with my dog all the time.”
Kevin Wilson added: “It was massive, there was black black black smoke, I thought it was maybe tyres on fire. It was a big fire mind, there was about seven fire engines went past here.”
For around three hours, large fire crews used hoses operated from aerial ladders to beat back the smoke. By around 2pm the smoke and flames had died away, leaving several buildings without a roof and one with a collapsed front wall.
The fire and the presence of the emergency services on scene caused some delays on roads in the area, but by around 2.40pm the roads had cleared and traffic had returned to normal.
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