FIRE crews mounted a 24-hour guard on a neighbourhood following a blaze in a private garage.

Four families were evacuated when firefighters discovered a gas bottle at the scene of the fire in Albert Terrace, Middlesbrough.

While Thursday night's fire was quickly extinguished, the bottle must be kept cooled by water to stop it from exploding.

Phil Lancaster, district manager for Cleveland Fire Brigade, said: "It is the type of thing which can be safe for 99.9 per cent of the time, but when hot it can be very dangerous and unpredictable.

"If moved or disturbed in any way, it can explode.

We have a procedure where we cool these cylinders for 24 hours."

He said there were instances of similar cylinders being cooled for a long period, only to explode when they were moved.

Cleveland Police said the fire, which caused extensive damage to the garage, is being treated as suspicious.