The building in West Hill used by a roofing company was largely destroyed, but firefighters were praised for stopping the fire from spreading to other nearby businesses.
At the height of the incident, which occurred just before 9 pm, there were 18 firefighters – ten wearing breathing apparatus – on scene who were supported from colleagues from the ambulance and police services.
Station Commander Marc Le Cornu, who took over as incident commander of the fire, said: ‘I am extremely proud of my crew as their hard work and efforts undoubtedly saved a couple of adjoining buildings and businesses from also being destroyed by this fire.
‘The fire has had a devastating effect on the company who own the business as the building has suffered severe fire damage. Investigations into the cause of the fire will continue during daylight hours. I’d also like to thank the residents and drivers for their patience whilst West Hill was closed to enable the fire crews to deal with the incident safely.’
The initial crew on scene, who were described as having ‘taken an enormous amount of heat’ trying to takle the blaze, were given a precautionary health check at the scene and were cleared to continue work.
