Photos of the devastating aftermath of an industrial fire in South Tyneside have been released after 50 firefighters battled the incident over the weekend.
Emergency services were called to Bede Industrial Estate in Jarrow at 12.30am on Sunday (July 2) after the alarm was raised by a member of the public.
With the fire covering an area of over 10,000 square metres, a total of ten appliances were sent to the area to help bring the incident under control.
Read more: Fire at Bede Industrial Estate in Jarrow, South Tyneside
At its height, 52 firefighters were involved in the operation with two Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) vehicles and a drone unit being used in the response.
Crews battled the fire through the early hours of Sunday but brought the incident under control, with several appliances seen at the industrial estate throughout Sunday.
Photos of the building have also been released, which still show fire investigators, as well as Northern Powergrid personnel, which were shared by UK Emergency Responses.
In the images, the charred remains of the building can be seen, while firefighters and their equipment can be seen next to the industrial buildings.
An investigation into the circumstances around the fire is currently taking place.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Lynsey McVay, who attended the scene, has praised the response of staff who helped prevent the blaze from spreading to other properties.
She said: "This was a significant fire that was creating a lot of smoke and spreading very quickly due to the materials that were within the unit itself.
"Our staff had to act quickly to get the fire under control and our fire control staff did a great job mobilising the right crew and resources to the scene.
"It has been a large operation throughout the night with more than 50 firefighters attending the scene to get the quick spreading fire under control.
"There has been significant damage to the units affected but it has been contained to one premises and those crews in attendance did a fantastic job.
"We will have a presence on the scene throughout Sunday and we would continue to ask residents in the area to keep their doors and windows shut due to smoke that remains in the area.
"We will be supporting the police with any investigation into the fire but I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved for their fantastic work last night, including our partners who helped facilitate our operation."
Chief Superintendent Neil Hutchison, of Northumbria Police, added: “I would like to thank the officers who attended, the fire service and partners from the local authority. This was a great example of different organisations working together to support the fire service in bringing this large blaze under control.
"We are committed to working alongside the fire service to ascertain the cause of the fire and whether it was malicious.
"Those enquiries are very much ongoing, I urge anyone who may have information about what caused this fire to contact us.”
At this time nobody is unaccounted for and there is no evidence to suggest that anybody was in the building during the fire itself.
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