Shock pictures show fire at West Midlands petrol station forecourt - metres away from fuel tank - as police arson investigation gets underway
Images and video footage show scenes of chaos as cardboard on a petrol station forecourt goes on fire near Kingswinford as the manager tells of his shock at the blaze.
A petrol station manager in Wall Heath, near Kingswinford has spoken of his shock at seeing a fire in the forecourt of his Texaco petrol service station - only metres away from a petrol tanker.
The incident happened at around 7.35pm on June 14 Wall Heath Service Station on Kidderminster Road. A group of youths can be seen entering the premises in the images from the service station CCTV.
The petrol station manager called Ramzi said the youths were caught on camera walking around the forecourt. A recycling cage filled with cardboard went on fire.
West Midlands Fire Service rushed to the scene before quickly dousing the blaze that was only metres away from the service station's main petrol tanker.
Razmi has spoken of the shock at seeing the youths. He has also praised the bravery of his team and the emergency service personnel.
He said: "It was horrible. On the CCTV you could see one of them starting the fire and then taking a selfie next to it. It's crazy.
"You could see the flames and smoke in the sky and the nearby tree was catching on fire too. Some of my staff ran out to try and extinguish it. The fire service got here really quickly."
The petrol station manager said that if the nearby petrol tank had caught fire, which was only metres away, it 'could have been a disaster'.
He said: "In the pictures where the manhole is, that's the main fuel tanker, it can hold around 20,000 litres. If that caught on fire, it would have been disastrous.
"It's really dangerous, the metal of the recycling cage and the plastic were all melted. The fuel tank was literally around five feet away. If it went, all the fuel would have gone. It would have been terrible."
An investigation has since been launched into the incident, with West Midlands Police asking anyone with information to contact them directly.
A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: "We were alerted to a fire which happened in Kidderminster Road, Kingswinford, on Saturday evening.
"The blaze is being treated as arson and anyone with information can contact us via 101 and quote 20/274670/25."
