FIREFIGHTERS were called to tackle a building fire in Okehampton last Thursday evening.

Two fire crews from Okehampton attended the incident in North Road just after 6.30pm and found a building, a commercial workshop measuring 30 metres by 20 metres housing a heavy goods vehicle, well alight with multiple cylinders involved. They called for the assistance of two more crews from Hatherleigh and North Tawton.

The crews got to work with two sets of breathing apparatus, two jets and one safety jet. By 8pm the breathing apparatus had been discontinued and three ground monitors were in use.

It was found that one argon cylinder was involved in the fire and there were five other cylinders in the vicinity but were not involved.

By 9.50pm firefighters had managed to extinguish the blaze. The building was left severely damaged by the fire, the cause of which was deemed to be accidental.