Mansfield residents have expressed their shock and gratitude to firefighters after a huge blaze broke out next to their homes. The large fire broke out around 4pm on Saturday, March 21 at the Savana rags site on Forest Road.
Due to the scale of the fire dozens of homes had to be evacuated, and the power was also cut. When families were able to return home on Sunday, March 22, they were thankful to find everything still in one piece, with just a layer of dust and some pieces of debris in their gardens and the roads.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue services have stated that specialist contractors will be knocking on doors on roads that were affected by the fire. These contractors will be clearing any fire debris that may have landed onto people's homes or in gardens, and people should not touch the fire debris and leave it for the contractors to clear.
Retired Sue Spencer, 67, and her husband Andy Spencer, 68, have lived in the area for almost 50 years. The Savana Rags site is located at the back of the garden, with one of the buildings only a few feet away from their garden fence.
Poll: Does more need to be done to clamp down on dog fouling? Have your say here
Sue said: "It started more or less at the bottom of our garden about quarter to four and then the police came a bit later and asked us to get out." She explained that they thought it would be over soon and so waited at the bottom of the road, before realising they needed to find somewhere to spend the night.
Sue has described the actions of the firefighters as "amazing." She said: "The smoke was going up and across everywhere, and the fire was only about six feet from us.
"They came and they stopped it coming this way, and the neighbours at the end have a wooden fence about two feet away and they even stopped that catching fire.
"The firefighters and the police, we can't thank them enough. I don't think there would have been a row of houses her if it wasn't for them." Speaking of the aftermath, Sue stated that the only damage they had was some burnt holes in a bench cover and are amazed everything is still standing.
Sue explained that there is a lot of dust and debris about, but they have been told "not to touch it" and that it will be cleared away professionally. Andy explained he has had concerns about the site since it was built ten years ago, and has always felt it was too close to their property.
He added that they had to let emergency service workers into their home to allow them a better vantage point of the fire, and stated that the neighbouring site was like "a maze of hoses." He also praised the emergency services, but described the whole situation with the site as a "nightmare." When asked if she had suffered any damage, a 43 year old caterer said: "Not really, I have some debris but not a lot.
"There were officers that came round and told us to not to touch it and said the council people would come clean it. It's horrendous.
"The fire was right at the back of the garden. We were worried and we came back and everything was untouched and everything is fine.
"It's just unbelievable, we really expected the garden to be gone." She also praised the firefighters as being "just amazing."
Graphic designer, Martin Fickling, 39, was also evacuated from his home. He said: "We thought we would only be gone a little while and then we had to stay out overnight. Luckily we had family nearby."
When asked about the debris, he explained: "there's not much really to be honest."
A retired 74 year old in the area who did not wish to be named says she has quite a bit of debris in her garden as well as a white layer of dust. She said: "In my garden there's quite a lot in there, and we've got grandchildren and dogs. It's all in my conservatory doorway."
She explained that she was told not to touch it but it being there is concerning as she has "grandchildren and dogs" and feels the neighbours have been left "in the dark" over the clean-up process for residents.
She added: "I know there's a lot of families here and people with pets, so they need to know."
READ NEXT:
