Residents evacuated overnight as fire crews tackled industrial yard blaze in Distington

Residents who spent the night evacuated from home as crews fought a fire at an industrial yard near Workington are now safely returning home.

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service was called to the incident at Main Street in Distington shortly before midnight on Friday 15 September.

Closures to the A595 and B5306 were in place, while residents were forced to spend the night at Distington Community Centre on Church Road or family and friends' houses.

Emergency services say there are no reported casualties and the fire at the haulage firm yard is not being treated as suspicious.

Ian Seel, area manager at Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, said: “We will continue to monitor the site over the next 24 hours but we can confirm the fire is now out.

“This incident caused a large level of disruption to those living nearby overnight. A swift multi-agency response was coordinated to keep people safe and tackle the fire.

“We’d like to thank the public who were impacted by this for their patience throughout.”

Fire crews have now been stood down after 35 firefighters extinguished the blaze.

Cumbria Police say there may be some odour remaining following the fire and people living nearby are asked to keep their windows and doors closed in the meantime.

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