THE picture tells its own story. This is the scene on Sunday afternoon as a gas explosion rocked the city centre bringing Lancaster to a spectacular halt. Construction worker David Sloane, 25, is still recovering in hospital after a 40ft shooting flame engulfed the mechanical digger he was operating in the Cheapside area of the city at around 3pm. The whole of the city centre was sealed off as firefighters and gas workers battled for nine hours to get the blaze under control. The gas supply to the burning pipe was eventually turned off at 11.30pm.

The drama started at around midday when workers laying electricity cables on behalf of Norweb reported a smell of gas in the area. British Gas officials were on the scene trying to contain the leak more than two hours before the blaze started. As flames began to shoot out of the hole in the ground and set light to nearby shops and flats, the whole area around Damside Street was cordoned off and homes were evacuated. As Lancaster's firefighters concentrated on containing the blazing buildings and the burning jet of gas, British Gas workers endeavoured to turn off the gas supply to the pipe.

Lancaster Fire Station Officer Ray Cassar was at the scene and summed up the afternoon's events. He told the Citizen: "When we got there windows were breaking and there were 25ft flames coming out of the ground.

"Our first task was to make sure there was no danger to life. The next problem was not to put the fire out but to protect the properties which were just yards away from the flames. We had the situation under control in about 40 minutes.

"We then had to wait for the Gas Board to isolate the supply because if you put the fire out prior to isolating the leak you could end up with a huge gas cloud."

And Alex Cunningham from British Gas explained: "When there is gas escaping we work to reduce the pressure so that we can shut the supply off. If it catches fire we are able to let it burn because at least then we know where it's going.

"It is now perfectly safe now and once the supply was cut off we were able to carry out a straightforward repair."

An investigation into the cause of the incident has already started. Mr Sloane of Marton near Blackpool is said to be in a comfortable condition and recovering from his injuries. By COLIN

DYER GAS BLAST

DRAMA Construction worker engulfed by 40ft flames

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