A flat fire on St Mary's Road in Garston caused a street to be "engulfed" in smoke in the early hours of Sunday. Merseyside Fire and Rescue responded to reports of the fire shortly before 4am, arriving minutes later to find a flat and a shop below in flames.
Fire extinguished and evacuations
By 5.17am, the fire had been completely extinguished and everyone was accounted for. Following advice from Cadent, two flats in the surrounding area were evacuated. After the fire was brought under control, attention turned to minimising damage, with Scottish Power and Cadent in attendance.
A Cadent spokesperson said: "Gas emergency engineers were called to a fire in Garston earlier this morning. Once the fire had been put out, Cadent's engineers were able to enter the home to make the gas supply safe."
Gas supply capped
The spokesperson added: "The fire had caused damage to the gas meter, so engineers capped the gas supply to the property to make it safe. After checking neighbouring properties and ensuring the safety and no gas escapes, engineers were able to leave site around 08:30 this morning."
Merseyside Fire and Rescue eventually left the incident, with Merseyside Police remaining present. A police cordon was in place to stop traffic, and Scottish Power carried out maintenance work outside the affected property. The cordon remained open for pedestrians, and the strong smell of burning was still noticeable, with many businesses closing for the day.
Witness accounts
Alisha Lawler, 45, who lives on Moss Street, recalled hearing a man banging on doors and screaming, "Get out, there's a fire." She said: "There was a guy, I didn't see him, I heard him. I could hear him banging on the doors next to property that was on fire and he was screaming, 'Get out, there's a fire'. And then that's when I ran outside to have a look to see what was going on. When I walked around the corner, I've just seen it all engulfed. He'd gone then, but I didn't see him go."
She added: "Apparently he was with his partner, and they were in a taxi, they'd seen it and he got out of the taxi and then he banged on the doors. Then once he'd seen the fire brigade come, he carried on in the taxi."
Another resident, who lives over the road from the fire, said: "I drove home this morning from a relative's and then saw it outside (the aftermath of the fire). But my family members who were inside said that they slept through it. They didn’t hear anything. We I asked the police this morning as soon as we saw it, I was on the phone saying 'Oh my god, what's going on?'"
