Yobs spark blaze in Bilston storage unit

Jun 18 2008 By Gurdip Thandi

YOBS almost caused an explosion in a Midland town centre after starting a fire in a shop storage unit and damaging a gas main.

Fire crews from Bilston were called to the incident at the back of Woolworths, in Wood Street, in the town centre, at around 7pm last night. Offenders had forced the lock of the small unit and set fire to piles of cardboard boxes that were left in there.

But the heat from the fire melted the casing around the gas main that was inside the unit, leaving it exposed to the flames.

Firefighters extinguished the fire and called out gas engineers to assess the damage. They had to dig up part of the road to check the pipes and re-case the main.

No one was hurt and damage was confined to the unit and the outside walls of Woolworths and the neighbouring Superdrug store.

It was thought the stores would be able to operate as normal today.

Watch Commander Clazz Ebanks, from Bilston fire service, said: “This could have had far more serious consequences.

“The fire could easily have caused the gas main to explode. There are surveillance cameras pointed in the direction of the unit and I believe police have taken them away.”