December 6th, 2004

An entire street of residents in Wray, Lancashire, in the United Kingdom have been evacuated from their homes until further notice. This follows the breakout of a fire at a local barn located at Hoskin’s Farm.

Local fire crews from Lancaster and Hornby were alerted, and immediately rushed to the fire. The crews worked hard to bring the fire under control; however, it was identified that asbestos was present and as a precaution the surrounding street was evacuation to local schools.

Both Wennington Hall School and the George & Dragon School are being used for the evacuated residents, whilst action is taken to assess the contamination and to make the area safe for habitation again. A decontamination unit has been set up at the site of the fire, and the local residents have been warned to keep away from the village until the all clear has been given.

After the crews were called out at breakfast time, they began to tackle the blaze immediately. However, the fire proved to be a serious one and fire crews were still battling to bring it under control four hours later. No statement was made at the time with regards to how the blaze started.