Breaking: Exeter High Street fire forces shop evacuations

Image credit: Mark Campbell for the Express and Echo

At around midday today, four fire engines were called to the H&M store on Exeter High Street.

Details are currently ambiguous but eyewitness reports suggest that smoke was seen billowing out of the shop. The fire service has confirmed that the smoke was logged on the ground floor.

One confused shopper tweeted that she had been in the changing room when the alarm went off, and others have complained at the convenience of the closed store.

It is allegedly an electrical fire, and H&M and Barclays Bank were both evacuated. One tweeter proclaimed: “H&M is on fire.”

The situation is ongoing.

Charlotte Trefusis, News Team

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Car catches fire on Mount Pleasant

Firefighters put out the blaze Image credit: Kate McBride

A car violently caught fire on Mount Pleasant Road this afternoon, at around 4:30-5pm. No one was harmed in the blast though the road remains closed due to damage from flames.

Firemen told an Exeposé reporter that a female driver exited the vehicle after the car began smoking. The car erupted a few moments later. The driver remains unidentified.

After the fire Image credit: Jon Jones

Police have sectioned off the area.

Firefighters remain at the site of the incident as they wait for the petrol to burn out. They must assess how hot the underneath of the car is before removing the wreckage and are using sand to cool down the affected area.

Highway maintenance have arrived to start cleaning debris surrounding the car.

Further images are in the gallery below.

 Olivia Luder, Site Manager and Jon Jones, Online Games Editor

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The road remains closed Image credit: Jon Jones

Image credit: Jon Jones

Image credit: Jon Jones

Flames have caused damage to the road Image credit: Jon Jones

Image credit: Jon Jones

Police wait for the petrol to burn out Image credit: Jon Jones

 

 

Website of the week: Burning House

Photo credits to Nik Rahmel

The fire that broke out in the Laver building last week reminded me of a thought-provoking website that I stumbled upon not so long ago.

Now I wouldn’t go posting websites like this had the circumstances been worse, so before I go any further, I’d like to add that nobody was hurt and the damage wasn’t too extensive.

Burning House is a photo blog whereby people take a picture of the 10 items that they would rescue from their house if it were burning down.

Some are arty, some are practical and some are just downright odd. It’s like the perpetual desert island question, except that 10 items are pretty generous in my books.

Enjoy! And tell us what you think of it below, or what you would take with you!

Kate Townend

Fire in Laver Building

Photo: Niklas Rahmel

A fire started in the Laver Building this afternoon after an accident during an experiment. Two fire engines were called to the building, which houses the Department of Archaelogy, at about 4pm this afternoon. Firefighters on the scene said that the fire started in a furnace on the ground floor. Items inside the furnace caught fire, filling the room with thick smoke.

The building was subsequently evacuated, and no one was injured. The university said that no disruption was caused to the post-offer open day which was taking place at the time.

By Tom Payne

Well Street up in flames

Students were left stunned as flames engulfed a house on Well Street, on Saturday, 8 December.

Photo credits to Guy Janaway

The house, which is situated in a popular student area, belonged to a local family, who have since relocated to a hotel. Though the fire ravished all floors of the property, it did not spread to the neighbouring houses in the terrace.

The damage was so extensive that the fire crew were forced to close access to the street until 3:00 pm, with the emergency services called out again the same evening, as embers in the burnt out house reignited. Broken glass from the windows and a melted rain gutter also resulted from the fire.

Residents of the street claim that fires have broken out at the same address on a few different occasions, but none have been as serious as this incident.

Photo credits to Guy Janaway

Second year student Liam Trim, who witnessed the outbreak said:  “there was lots of smoke and it made my night in the pub dramatic.

“There has been terrible damage to the house where the fire was but the ones either side have mostly been lucky.”

Community support officers on the scene assured Exeposé Online that there were no fatalities as a result of the fire.

Gas work is now being carried out in front of the house.

By Cathy Thom, News Editor