Shop inferno

More than 70 firefighters from across North Yorkshire fought a massive blaze which ripped through a York store early today.

Fire crews were called to the Spar store, in Clifton Green, as the fire took hold inside at around 12.30am.

At its height, flames and a huge pall of smoke belched from the burning building, and showers of embers were scattered into the night sky.

Guests at Clifton View guest house next door were forced to flee their beds, and residents in nearby Abbey Street, whose homes backed on to the blazing store, were evacuated.

Witnesses said a woman living above the shop had raised the alarm after being woken by the smell of smoke.

Firefighters, who were on the scene in minutes, at first donned breathing apparatus and entered the smoke-logged ground floor to douse the flames. But with conditions inside increasingly perilous, they were forced to withdraw.

Police sealed off Clifton Green, and huge water jets - including one aimed from an aerial ladder - were brought to bear to quell the flames and stop them spreading to neighbouring properties.

After almost two hours, the fire had been stopped from spreading . Crews, who came from York, Selby, Malton, Tadcaster, Easingwold, Harrogate, Knaresborough, Northallerton, Ripon, and Boroughbridge, continued to pour water on the gutted building, which stretches back about 100ft from the road.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Divisional Officer Robert Webb, who led the operation, said: "The fire very quickly spread to engulf the whole of the ground floor of the shop which was well alight when crews arrived.

"The efforts of fire crews were successful in containing the fire and stopping it damaging other buildings."

Ambulances were sent to the scene but no-one was injured.

Carol Oxtoby, who has owned Clifton View guest house for 15 years, was woken by the guest house's fire alarm and escaped with her bookmaker husband, Baz, daughter Sara, 19, and their two dogs from their adjoining home in Abbey Street.

She said: "I could smell smoke inside our house and I thought the guest house was on fire. I was choking with the smoke.

"We got outside and the guests had already got out."

Only five guests had been staying in the 30-bed guest house compared to 23 the night before.

Mrs Oxtoby added: "I'm fully booked this weekend but I'm going to have to cancel. There will be smoke damage and it will smell.

"On top of all that we have lost our local shop as well."

Stephen Cochrane, 32, from Clifton, told how he was brought to safety from the alley next to the Spar shop.

He said: "I heard someone shouting 'come on son'.

"The alley was full of smoke and I couldn't see. He (a fireman) had to lead me out by the hand. Smoke was pouring out the front door of the shop."

The scene was sealed off after the smouldering building was finally damped down and fire investigators were expected to start sifting through debris today in a bid to discover the cause of the fire.

see also 'Picking up the pieces after the fire'

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.