Bath city centre closed off after building site fire

Parts of Bath city centre were closed off yesterday (September 23rd) after a huge fire broke out on a building site.

A number of local residents had to spend the night in a shelter after bring evacuated from their homes.

The BBC reports that eye witnesses said they saw flames and smoke coming from the site which is situated near a Marks and Spencer store by Henry Street.

The Bath Chronicle reported that the fire began when a bitumen burner caused a number of gas cylinders to explode on the roof of a block of shops that were being built.

Jeff Saffin, group manager for social services and manager of the centre in which residents tayed overnight, said: "The plan we had in place made sure that the evening ran smoothly, we knew how to react to the situation [...] There was good support from everybody involved."