Firefighters reveal battle to prevent fire from breaking out as ‘wind, heat and fuel’ were perfect conditions for blaze to spread to tents
A blaze which wiped out 80 cars at a festival was just metres away from hitting tents, officials have revealed.
Brave firefighters rushed to the scene at Boomtown Festival in Hampshire to tackle the inferno, which started after a car caught light on Friday.
The raging fire was just feet away from setting alight tipis in the luxury campsite, local media was told.
Speaking to the Daily Echo , officer-in-command Mark Compton revealed that crews were a “matter of metres away” from having a major incident to deal with.
He said: “The heat was very, very intense. We were literally just trying to prevent the fire from breaking out.
“Had [the fire] got into that area we would really have had a major incident to deal with.
“The wind, the heat and the fuel were the perfect conditions for the fire to spread rapidly. I was confident in the firefighters’ abilities to control the fire.”
Nobody was hurt in the blaze, which was eventually stopped when firefighters created a foam barrier around affected cars.
The music event, which can host up to 50,000 people, took place across the weekend.
Vast plumes of thick black smoke could be seen billowing across the festival in a series of striking pictures.
Firefighters were called out at 4.15pm to reports of a fire.
The South Central Ambulance Services Hazardous Area Response Team said: “Multiagency response to estimated 80 vehicles destroyed by Boomtown fire.”
Dance superstars Leftfield played the main stage along with the Levellers and the Fun Loving Criminals.
Madness and Damien Marley headlined other stages around the event.
Boomtown is designed to resemble a large city, with various neighbourhoods such as Mayfair Avenue, Wild West and Old Town featuring a variety of different attractions.
The festival’s website says: “BoomTown rose up from the underground in 2009 to become one of the UK’s wildest and most inspiring independent festivals, from a humble village fair it is now a sprawling creative metropolis and home to every species of artistic miscreant.
“We invite thousands of citizens to embark on an immersive audio-visual joyride, dancing through the labyrinthine streets and plazas on a non-stop weekend journey of discovery.
“Every kind of musical genre is celebrated at BoomTown, from ska, folk, gypsy, reggae, world, punk, pirate and disco to electro-swing, jazz, blue-grass, bass, jungle and techno, all enjoyed in a spirit of unity and freedom.”
Original source: The Mirror