THIRTY firefighters fought a blaze which gutted a warehouse and sent a plume of smoke miles high into the sky.
An arson investigation team, aided by scenes of crime police officers, sifted through the remains of the 70m by 20m storage shed on Middlesbrough's Skipper's Lane Industrial Estate yesterday. Fire crews had to use cutting gear, normally used to free people trapped in car crashes, to get into the compound housing the building.
The warehouse was full of machine parts and cardboard packaging. It also contained bottles of what were probably oxygen and propane.
Grangetown Fire Station officer Steve Walton said: "Crews that entered the building were met with a very severe smoke logging situation and also discovered some cylinders which caused some concern.
"If they had been involved with the fire brigade there would have been a good chance of them exploding.
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