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Chronicle Live
National
Flaminia Luck

Building blaze in Newcastle city centre causes power cut after damage to power cables

Fire crews attended a building fire on Tuesday afternoon that caused a power cut in Newcastle city centre.

At 11.26am, four crews responded to the blaze in St. Mary's Place in the Haymarket area. It was reported that smoke was seen in a take away premise.

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The fire has caused considerable damage to cables which also affected the power supply to nearby traffic lights. Police assisted fire crews in traffic management and easing congestion in the city centre.

A section of the pavement outside of the premise was also cordoned off due to excessive heat. Council and police were also involved in the incident due to the nature of the fire and the issues it caused.

The fire was extinguished and fortunately no one was hurt in the incident. Once the building was confirmed to be safe, it was left in the hands of the electricity board.

A Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson, said:

“We can confirm that four of our crews responded to a building fire in Newcastle city centre this lunch time.

“Our Fire Control received an emergency call at 11.26am and the first appliance was on the scene within 2-minutes. We dispatched four crews from Byker, Gosforth and Newcastle Central Community Fire Stations to St. Mary’s Place in the area of Newcastle’s Haymarket as it was initially thought the fire was located in a high rise building.

“There were reports of smoke being seen in a take away premise. The fire caused considerable cable damage, which affected the power supply to the surrounding traffic lights. A section of the pavement outside of the premise was also cordoned off due to excessive heat.

“Both the police and local authority were contacted due to the nature of the fire and the issues it had caused.

“Enquiries in to the cause are ongoing.

“The fire is now out and all persons have been accounted for.

“Our crews departed from the scene of the incident at 12:35pm after ensuring the building was safe and left the incident in the hands of the electricity board.”

Shops and businesses closed on St Mary's Place Newcastle due to a power cut (Newcastle Chronicle)

A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “Shortly after 1.15pm today (Tuesday), we received a report of a fire on St Mary’s Place, Newcastle.

“Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service were already in attendance and the fire was soon extinguished.

“Our officers were deployed to the scene to assist with traffic management due to power supply issues from the fire impacting surrounding traffic lights.

“No one was injured and enquiries are ongoing to determine the cause of the fire.”

A Newcastle City Council spokesperson said “We can confirm there was a fire in St Marys Place which our highways teams responded to today. The fire caused considerable cable damage, which affected the power supply to three surrounding traffic lights. Temporary pedestrian crossings are in place until the power cable is restored.”

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