RESIDENTS of a small community looked on as the county's fire service descended on Haverigg in a dramatic blaze that smouldered for almost 12 hours yesterday.

Eight fire pumps from across the area were dispatched to Millom at 9.45am yesterday to battle a blaze at Haverigg Exhaust and Tyre Centre on the industrial estate.

On arrival, crews confirmed that there was a fire in a garage that contained oxy-acetylene cylinders and a 25 metre cordon was set up in case of explosions.

For almost 12 hours crews fought to control the blaze and cool the cylinders before finally making the building safe at around 8.15pm last night.

The fire was spotted by a neighbour, Steven Attwood, whose son owns the Harbour Lights Campsite just half a mile away from the garage.

Mr Attwood said: "We live across a couple of fields from it so I saw it and triple nine'd it. I could see all the black smoke.

"There are often a few fires when kids set fire to tyres but this was much more than that.

"There were explosions too, because they have cars in there, which were really loud. It's totally ruined - completely gone."

The campsite was also evacuated by the fire service out of fears of asbestos from the garage roof in the air, but holidaymakers were let back on site around 4pm.

Mr Attwood said: "We had about 12 tents and camping vans on there so about 30 people have been evacuated - children too.

"The fire were worried about asbestos in the air. People have come up for a nice holiday at Haverigg and they've been evacuated."

Cumbria Fire Control were warning people across the area to stay away from the area, to stay indoors and close all windows and doors.

Councillor Janice Brown, of Haverigg, echoed the warning saying the area just was not safe.

She said: "Everybody is troubled with a little bit of nosiness but over there with all the gas bottles it's just not safe.

"When anything happens you always get hundreds of people but we have to use our common sense."

A595 campaigner says "lives could be lost"

FIRE crews from across the area rush to the scene, but the geographical location of the blaze meant it took take time for the engines to arrive.

Mr Attwood reported seeing members of the public, including his son, helping the firefighters first on the scene while they waited for backup from elsewhere.

Mr Attwood said: "Members of the community were helping roll the hoses out because they were short of firemen. There was only one fire crew there because of a charity event elsewhere."

Fire engines from Millom, Bootle, Barrow, Ulverston, Ambleside, Broughton and Egremont rushed their way through the narrow lanes of the A595 to get to the fire - a lengthy journey campaigners say is putting people's lives at risk.

Frank Rewaj, an active member of the A595 Action Group, believes upgrading the road is a matter of life or death.

He said: "This is just a prime example of what could go wrong. If something had been coming the other way, like the big trucks you get on there, the fire engine could have been delayed for 20 minutes or more.

"This incident is just an illustration of what could go wrong. These improvements should have been made years ago, let alone now.

"It only needs to happen once and lives could be lost and people will just have to hang their heads in shame."