Express & Star

Huge blaze at Carvers building supplies in Wolverhampton

Carvers Building Supplies in Wolverhampton has been devastated by a huge blaze.

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Buildings were evacuated, roads closed and trains stopped after flames engulfed the 116-year-old firm.

Enormous plumes of acrid smoke and 20ft flames could be seen for miles around as 100 firefighters were drafted in from across the region.

The fire started at around 11.40am in the timber area of the warehouse, with flames spreading to the roof within minutes. A total of 200 staff and 20 customers fled as firefighters and ambulance crews rushed to the scene.

Carvers Building Supplies in Wolverhampton was devastated by a huge blaze.

Buildings were evacuated, roads closed and trains stopped after flames engulfed the 116-year-old firm.

Enormous plumes of acrid smoke and 20ft flames could be seen for miles around as 100 firefighters were drafted in from across the region.

The fire started at around 11.40am in the timber area of the warehouse, with flames spreading to the roof within minutes.

A total of 200 staff and 20 customers fled as firefighters, police and ambulance crews rushed to the scene. The workers then stood by in tears and watched as their workplace and parked cars went up in flames.

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  • Five page of reports and pictures in Wednesday's Express & Star

Explosions were heard at 12.30pm as the roof collapsed in on itself and small gas canisters stored at the site started to explode. The Little's Lane business is also home to two huge propane gas storage tanks and this afternoon emergency workers were trying to stop the fire from spreading to them.

They enforced a 660ft cordon around the area as the flames began to encroach towards the main tanks at around 12.40pm.

Both Carvers and 700 students from the £40 million high-rise student village, Victoria Halls, were evacuated, along with scores of homes, Carvers Cooker Centre, Woden Primary School and the Maltings Mobility Centre. Students and staff at Heath Park Business & Enterprise College were also put on lockdown.

Residents were told to keep their windows closed as a precautionary measure in case of toxic smoke.

Managing director Henry Carver fought back tears after he told staff to go home. He told the Express & Star he had been the last to leave the building after checking everyone was out.

The father of three said: "We can take a little bit of happiness in that no one has died. We now have no records or anything. The firefighters came quickly within five minutes. We are very sad, I'm sad for everybody. It happened somewhere around the timber area. It just went up so quickly."

The police helicopter hovered above the scene providing live images to assist officers in the force's on site mobile control room. Firefighters took water from the nearby Birmingham Canal to douse the factory.

But this afternoon, the roof was completely caved in and one side of the 200m by 600m warehouse was completely destroyed. Thick black smoke continued to billow from the site.

Sgt Nick Walton, from Bilston Street police station, said: "Our presence here at the moment is very much to do with public safety and helping the fire service contain the blaze."

No one was hurt in the fire.

Click on the image on the right to see more pictures from the blaze.

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