A witness described seeing "incredible flames" as a fire engulfed a scrap yard in Cardiff. Firefighters were called to the blaze at about 11.15am on Friday, February 24, on Martin Road in Splott.
Pictures shared on social media showed smoke billowing over the city's skyline. A nearby Cardiff Bay resident contacted us to say their "whole flat smells of smoke", and they attached a picture of the view from their window with smog pluming in the distance.
The fire affected five boats, multiple vehicles and scrap metal, said the fire service, and the suspected cause was determined to be accidental. The fire was put out by around 12.35pm and pictures from the scene show the decimated yard afterwards.
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Witness Jeff Evans, owner of Cardiff Reclamation, which is just opposite the yard where the fire took place, told WalesOnline: "There was a mass of black smoke and huge flames. The whole top of that yard was just engulfed. At first it was just a small fire but really thick black smoke and then all of a sudden there was like a roaring noise - it must have been gas obviously escaping out of a cannister - and the flames were just incredible. I was stood by here with a customer and this was just black.
"You couldn't see anything, it was just black. Luckily it was going that way, not our way, so you could stand here and look at it. But across there the whole sky was just full of black smoke - unbelievable." He added: "All the fence outside was on fire as well. If there was a couple of cars in the road - luckily there wasn't - it could have jumped across from car to car and our one would have gone up next."
Meanwhile, firefighter Adam Lowe, who attended the incident told WalesOnline that two pumps and a water bowser were requested to put out the blaze. "There was nobody on site and we had to make entry ourselves, so we're not sure how it started. We've evacuated all the businesses just for their own safety just with regards to the toxins involved because of the fibreglass in the boats," he said.
He added that the cause of the fire would be "difficult to investigate because the fire was so intense". Meanwhile, pictures from the scene A spokesperson for the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: "At approximately 11:15am on Friday 24 February 2023, we received reports of a fire on Martin Road in Splott, Cardiff.
"Crews from Cardiff Central and Ely Fire and Rescue Stations attended the scene and extinguished the fire. The fire affected five boats, multiple vehicles and scrap metal. The suspected cause was determined to be accidental. The incident concluded at approximately 12:35pm."
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