FIRE crews spent all afternoon yesterday battling a blaze in a Newport industrial park.
The fire broke out at a unit in Langland Parc West shortly before midday, sending a thick plume of smoke high above the city.
More than a dozen fire services vehicles raced to the scene, and firefighters used cherry pickers to tackle the blaze from above, perched over the unit’s roof and spraying jets of water inside to try and calm the smoke that was pouring out and sweeping across the Lliswerry area of the city.
The initial smoke column could be seen from miles away.
READ MORE: Click here to read our live coverage of the fire from earlier today
All units in the area were evacuated, and one staff member from a neighbouring site said the power had been switched off while South Wales Fire and Rescue (SWFRS) crews fought the fire.
The unit where the fire started had not been identified, but the most recent update from SWFRS at 9.10pm confirmed crews were still at the scene – but the 'stop message' had been received, meaning no new firefighting resources were required.
A number of neighbouring business units were badly damaged too.
This video (below), shot and sent in by Ollie Burridge, shows the size of the smoke plume over Newport.
Gwent Police officers set up a safety cordon around the industrial park’s perimeter shortly after they arrived at the scene.
Ieuan Smith, 19, works at Car Spa, a valeting firm which operates out of a unit near the scene of the fire.
“I was on a job doing work on a car, I had my headphones in, and before knew it everyone was rushing out,” he told the Argus. “Luckily I managed to get all the equipment out.”
As the smoke began to clear by around 3pm, the blackened, damaged shop fronts of several units could be seen.
Kathryn Jefferson was at Little Oaks Play Village nearby when the fire began.
“We didn’t even realise at first,” she told the Argus. “We were cleaning and then the power went off. We thought we’d had a power cut.
“The boys at Flawless next door banged on our door and notified us other wise we wouldn’t have known.
“It was a bit worrying. We still don’t know if the fire is out or if it has spread to endanger our unit."
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