Fire service confirms cause of fire at Stagecoach East bus depot in Cambridge
A gas cylinder was the cause of a fire at the Stagecoach East bus depot in Cambridge.
The depot was evacuated, Cowley Road was closed to traffic and a cordon was in place overnight following the incident.
Crews from Cambridge, Cottenham, Ely and Huntingdon were called to the fire at 3.45pm on Thursday.
The workshop blaze was close to vehicles, and Cambridge Commercial Business Park had to be evacuated as crews tackled the fire. The closure of Cowley Road also led to disruption to the train service to Cambridge North.
Crews were at the scene throughout the night to ensure it was safe.
Station commander Vinnie Crook, the officer in charge of the incident, said: “Gas cylinders require careful management due to their volatile state. Public safety is of paramount importance, which is why we needed to keep the business park closed until we were confident the gas had burned off and there was no longer a risk of the cylinder exploding. Fortunately there is very little damage caused by the fire.
“Thank you to all those who were evacuated for their patience. It was necessary to ensure our crews could deal with the fire safely.”
Cambridgeshire police also attended the scene and closed the road. It reopened just after 8am today (September 4).
There were no reported injuries. The cause of the fire was accidental.
Stagecoach said it maintained its bus services during the fire.
A spokesperson said: “We would like to thank the emergency services and our staff for their amazing efforts, which resulted in all services running as normal today with no interruption to the network or our customers.
“There is a contingency plan to relocate buses in such circumstances but it was only a very temporary measure as we took back control of the depot by 8am today.
“An investigation is currently under way to which we will be offering our full support.”
Read more
Evacuation as fire hits Stagecoach bus depot in Cowley Road, Cambridge
Two new bus services between Cambourne and Cambridge announced
