Hundreds evacuated during Huddersfield gas explosion scare

Apr 18 2009 By Nick Lavigueur

FEARS a burning gas cylinder could explode sparked a massive evacuation leaving hundreds of people temporarily homeless.

Dozens of police officers rushed to the Birkby area of Huddersfield yesterday morning to get residents out of their homes after a gas canister was set alight on land at Miln Road just off St John’s Road.

Police sealed off a 200m exclusion zone shortly after 11am as fire officers tackled the blazing canister.

Police officers guarded entrances to every road and alley as homes and businesses on St John’s Road, between Osborne Road and Blacker Road, were evacuated.

Eye witnesses said the emergency was caused after suspected scrap metal thieves tried to cut the valve off a large gas bottle with an angle grinder.

It is thought scrap dealers refuse to take the bottles if they believe any gas could still be inside.

Police later recovered a vehicle suspected to have been involved in the fire and a male driver was arrested.

The evacuation meant customers at Dominos hair salon were forced to leave mid-cut and families were barred from returning home for vital supplies.

A local school was temporarily opened up as a rest centre and residents were later transported to Huddersfield Sports Centre where refreshments were provided by the WRVS.

Diversions were set up, but traffic soon ground to a halt as police struggled to manage the mayhem.

Shortly after 3.15pm gas cylinder experts declared the scene safe and police finally lifted the cordon to allow residents to return to their homes.

Mother and son Janet and Jamie Porteous, who run J’s Cafe, said they saw two scruffy men in their late 40s in an old pickup truck trying to take scrap from a property next to the Crazy Maze play-gym.

Jamie, 33, said: “While they were taking that scrap they dumped an acetylene bottle on the ground and released the gas and tried to cut the valve off.

“It set on fire and when they saw the fire brigade turn up they did a runner.

“It was one of the big ones, probably about 30 litres.”

St John’s Road resident Waqas Iqbal, 32, said he had been asleep after a night shift when he was woken up by police.

He said: “They said we had to leave the house and asked if we’ve got anywhere else to go.

“I said I’ve got four kids with me and they said somebody had blown a gas bottle up and they didn’t know how long it was going to be.