THREE fire engines were called to deal with a fire inside a warehouse in Didcot.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service were called to a report of a fire inside a welding bay in a large warehouse in Hawksworth, near Didcot Power Station, at just after 12pm yesterday.

The building was evacuated before crews from Didcot, Abingdon, and Wallingford fire stations reached the incident, which involved a single compressed gas cylinder.

Two fire fighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the building with hoses to locate and extinguish the fire.

Once the fire was under control crews ventilated the warehouse to remove all of the smoke.

They also used specialist gas monitoring equipment to ensure the contents of the compressed gas cylinder were not leaking.

An investigation into the cause of the fire has determined it was accidental.

Incident commander, crew manager Lee Newport from Didcot Fire Station, said:

“This incident demonstrates the importance of well-rehearsed evacuation plans being put in to place by the site staff to keep everyone safe, which coupled with our ability to enter with specialist equipment enabled them to be back up and running very quickly.

"We were able to work closely with the staff to ensure that a potentially serious incident was quickly and safely resolved."