Fire investigations delayed by damage

FIRE investigators and police scenes-of-crime officers were yesterday unable to begin looking into the cause of a massive warehouse blaze in Yarmouth because of the dangerous state of the building.

FIRE investigators and police scenes-of-crime officers were yesterday unable to begin looking into the cause of a massive warehouse blaze in Yarmouth because of the dangerous state of the building.

Fire station manager John Baker said: “It is currently too dangerous to go in because of the vulnerable state of the building and the presence of cylinders in there.”

A section of Admiralty Road outside the premises of Ethical Hydrocarbons and Resources remained closed to traffic yesterday as the area was cleaned of a sticky chemical residue.

A member of staff, looking on, said he and colleagues were shocked at the devastation caused by the blaze.

Fire crews from Yarmouth, Gorleston, Martham, Lowestoft, Loddon, Stalham, Norwich and the Sprowston chemical incident unit had helped in tackling the blaze which broke out shortly after 3.30am on Sunday.

Firefighters had managed to get the blaze under control by 6am but three crews remained at the scene later in the morning damping down.

Local resident Warren Lambert said the flames had been “right up in the air, maybe twice the height of the building”.