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Bomb warning over discarded cylinders

Ben Turner
16/ 7/2004

ROCHDALE fire crews and police are warning of the dangers of discarded gas cylinders after dealing with the third emergency in recent months.

A cylinder thought to contain acetylene and found in a burning garage in Hamer sparked the latest alert last Friday morning.

Emergency services closed off Athol Street and parts of Alice and Davyhulme Streets for 24 hours and forced residents to stay away from their garages. The cylinder was later found to contain carbon dioxide.

The latest incident follows two previous scares earlier this year. In the most recent, 17 people were forced from their homes in May when an acetylene cylinder, often used for welding, was found during a fire in a Shawclough factory.

Senior fire officer, Steve Swallow, said any discarded gas cylinder was 'a potential bomb' and urged people to keep them in secure, locked storage away from the home.

"Acetylene cylinders will demolish the buildings around them - it is incredible," he said. "That is why they have to be treated very carefully. It can decompose in the cylinder hours and hours after the fire, which obviously gives us quite a problem.

"Butane and propane can cause the same damage, but acetylene has the 24-hour risk. We are quite often coming across them in garages, scrap yards and empty buildings."

Police Inspector Chris Hill urged people to dispose of empty cylinders by calling the phone number on their side.

He said: "The fire brigade won't know if it is empty and have to act, anyway. We might evacuate rows of houses without any need to. They can be a major disruption for traffic and neighbouring residents and it is labour intensive in that officers have to be there all the time to keep the public away."

The standard 200-metre exclusion zone ties up at least six police officers for 24 hours, he said.

Mr Swallow said: "People seem to rent the cylinders and use them occasionally, which takes years to use up. If you have rented one and finished using it, take it back to where you got it from."

He said propane and butane gas, used in barbecues, caravans and portable cookers, needed to be treated the same way.

Free advice on the storage of gas cylinders is available at Rochdale Fire Station. Anyone who sees an abandoned cylinder should call the fire brigade or police.