Police probe allotment fire in Dunston, Gateshead

Jun 23 2009 by Rob Pattinson, The Journal

THE cause of a fire which forced more than 100 families from their homes is being probed by police.

Officers were last night expecting to be granted access to the scene of Sunday night’s blaze at an allotment site, off Wellington Road in Dunston, Gateshead, which forced fire chiefs to evacuate surrounding streets as a precautionary measure.

Families from Dunston Road and Wellington Road were asked to retreat after gas cylinders with the potential to explode were uncovered in a garage at the centre of the blaze.

Last night fire investigators were preparing to sift through the blackened debris in the hope of uncovering clues.

Some residents have already begun to question why such potentially explosive materials were allowed to be kept so close to their densely populated area.

One concerned father, whose house backs on to the scene of the fire, and who asked not to be named said: “What I want to know is how the fire spread so quickly and why did anyone have gas cylinders like that so close to our homes?”

Among the rubble police and fire officers must now clear is the remains of a cree where more than 350 pigeons perished when it was engulfed by flames.

The stock, worth up to £30,000, belonged to respected pigeon fancier Neil Bruce, of nearby Ravensworth Road.

The 55-year-old, who has kept pigeons since he was eight, and is chairman of the Gateshead Federation of Racing Pigeons and vice-president of the North of England Homing Union, braved the heat in an attempt to rescue his birds.

But as the flames took hold, the bird-lover was left with no choice but to step back and helplessly watch from behind a police cordon as the fire engulfed the cree .