NEW Waltham residents were evacuated after a fire spread behind a pub – engulfing their garden sheds and threatening their homes.
The shed behind the Farmhouse in Station Road caught fire shortly before 12.30pm yesterday and plumes of smoke could be seen by motorists on Peaks Parkway.
Residents who live beside and behind the pub were forced to flee their properties as flames – which one man said were 20 feet high – threatened to spread.
Police arrived to evacuate houses, and two fire engines – from Cromwell Road and Peaks Lane – got to the scene at 12.33pm, and had extinguished the fire by 1.10pm.
However, they couldn't prevent damage to the three houses by the pub's shed, and residents were forced to wait outside until fire officers declared that the area was safe.
Three houses had their garden sheds – and all the contents – totally destroyed by the blaze, panes of glass in the upstairs windows shattered, and guttering from the roof ruined. Maxine Smith, 49, of Farmhouse Mews, said: "I heard crackling and then a big whoosh which sounded like a flame-thrower, which is when I looked outside and saw the fire. It was quite scary and was spreading really quickly so I ran out of the house.
"The shed is totally destroyed and my house stinks of smoke so I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time cleaning. Luckily, only the outside panes of glass in the double-glazing smashed so there is no physical damage to the inside of my house – it could have been much worse."
Next-door neighbour Simon Allenby, 44, said that the flames were 20 feet high and that he first noticed the fire because plumes of smoke were so thick, they were casting shadows on the pavement.
He added: "It was quite surreal to look out the window and see the fire but it looked as though it was going to spread so I ran out of my house and saw my neighbours gathered on the street."
Jeff Smith, 30, who runs www.comparethetradesmen.com from his home in Farmhouse Mews, fled his house with three business computers when he noticed the fire.
He said: "The laptops were on the lawn and the flames were licking the fence so I was hosing it down but I had to get out of the garden in the end because of all the smoke.
"It was lucky that the wind was blowing away from the pub or I think it would have spread – it would have done anyway if the fire service had turned up any later."
A spokesman for Humberside Fire and Rescue confirmed that no one was hurt and said that the cause of the fire was not yet known.
Management at the Farmhouse were unavailable for comment and at the time of going to press, it was not clear if the pub would be open today. Check www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk for updates.
