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Fire engulfs lorries at M&S depot

Blaze at Thornbury industrial estate as lorries erupt into flames

An M&S depot is back in operation after a blaze broke out on an industrial estate overnight and engulfed eight HGV lorries.

Avon Fire and Rescue Service received multiple calls and deployed several crews to the Gist depot on Short Way, Thornbury, at 01:34 BST.

There are no casualties and everybody has been accounted for following an evacuation of the area.

An M&S spokesperson said: "All our colleagues are safe, the depot itself did not catch fire and operations resumed earlier this morning.”

Jadan Randall A huge fire at an industrial estate. Orange flames and a thick plume of smoke can be seen. Jadan Randall
The blaze involved eight HGV lorries, the fire service said

Avon Fire and Rescue Service said that the cause of the fire was thought to be accidental ignition.

People were asked to avoid the area around Short Way and those living nearby were advised to keep their windows closed.

An M&S spokesperson added: “We are grateful to firefighters from Avon & Somerset Fire & Rescue, who handled a fire on a small number of lorries at Gist’s Thornbury depot overnight."

The fire service currently still have one crew in attendance and say they will be "reinspecting later this afternoon to ensure the safety of the scene".

Spotted in Thornbury BS35 Burnt up lorries parked outside a warehouse. The side of the building is black from the fire and the lorries are badly damaged. Spotted in Thornbury BS35
The fire broke out at the depot of Gist, which manages logistics for M&S

A total of 24 firefighters from Avonmouth, Thornbury, Patchway, Southmead, Temple, Pill, Nailsea, Chew Magna, Kingswood, Yate and Portishead attended.

A turntable ladder, a drone, a water tower and jets and hose reel jets were all used to extinguish the fire.

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