Firefighters and police evacuate block of flats after blaze triggered by electrical fault

THERE was a large-scale emergency services response when a blaze broke out in a Wellington block of flats on one of the hottest days of the year on Tuesday (July 14).

Dozens of residents were evacuated from their homes in Holyoake Street shortly after 11 am as police and four fire engines from Wellington, Wiveliscombe, Taunton, and Bridgwater were called to the scene.

As soon as the Wellington firefighters had returned to their North Street station they were immediately called out again to Rockwell Green, where a small wildfire was burning on an embankment alongside the new Monument View housing estate.

People living in the nearby houses were using hosepipes and buckets of water to try to dampen down the burning hedgerows and grassland until the fire crews arrived.

In Holyoake Street, an upstairs flat was set alight by an electrical fault, but fortunately the owner was at work.

Emergency services said nobody was injured but the flat was completely destroyed.

Neighbours were left to stand in the street in the baking hot weather for about an hour as fire crews used breathing apparatus and hose reel, attack, and safety jets to tackle the flames.

Smoke billowing from the building could be seen from neighbouring streets until the fire was extinguished.