WEYMOUTH town centre was brought to a standstill amid fears of a gas explosion.
Emergency crews were called to Kwik-Fit on the Jubilee Retail Park after two cylinders, one containing oxygen and the other a ‘highly-explosive’ acetylene gas, toppled and were feared to have ruptured.
Quick-thinking Kwik-Fit staff turned off the valves on both cylinders before evacuating the building, but the oxygen cylinder continued to emit gas, a fire service spokesman said.
Worried mechanics called the fire service amid fears that the building would blow up.
Kwik-Fit customer Cathy Easter was waiting for a MOT on her car when the drama began just after 3pm yesterday.
She said: “I was in reception and the lads were in the garage and they just said ‘Get out.’ “I knew it was something to do with a cylinder.
“We were asked to move out of the way, then we were asked to move further and further away.”
Two fire engines and 13 firefighters attended the incident and called for police assistance to put a 200-metre cordon in place.
King’s roundabout, the town bridge, Commercial Road, the retail park and the roads around the bus and train stations were all closed to traffic for two hours.
The First group bus depot and train station were kept operational.
Weymouth fire station manager Phil Head said: “We were called to Kwik-Fit with a report that two cylinders had fallen over.
“They contained welding gas – one had oxygen and the other contained acetylene.
“As soon as we turned up the watch manager did an excellent job and put a cordon in place.
“We didn’t want to gamble with people’s lives.
“Acetylene, when it is not controlled, is a potentially dangerous gas.
“The worst-case scenario would have been a 200m exclusion zone but with the brick building acting as a shield we knew the exclusion zone could be smaller in some areas.
“As soon as we found out the leaking cylinder was oxygen and didn’t involve acetylene we lifted the cordon.”
He added: “I’m extremely grateful to the numerous police officers and PCSOs for enforcing the cordon.
“All the people who were evacuated were also extremely helpful and I’d like to thank everyone for their patience.”
Phil Couzens, assistant manager at McDonald’s, said all his staff and customers had to leave the restaurant.
He said: “We were shut for an hour after the police came over and told us we had to evacuate.
“I think they were treating it as a bomb.
“It was a bit unusual, and we’ve had to turn away customers.”
Several houses in Commercial Road, including Melcombe House, were also evacuated.
Steve Jackson, a landlord of a Commercial Road property, said he was stuck in Weymouth with his car inside the cordon.
He said: “I’m trying to get back to Cornwall.
“The police told me there was a problem with gas.”
A spokesman for Kwik-Fit said: “This was an unfortunate incident and we helped the emergency services in whatever way we could.”
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