A TAVISTOCK fire officer's quick thinking ensured no lives were lost when a diesel tank ruptured at the scene of a workshop blaze at the weekend, completely destroying a fire engine.

The £200,000 appliance was engulfed when flaming diesel poured down a hill at Collaton Lane.

Tavistock's officer in charge Mike Porter was praised for realising the danger of the situation as the fire rapidly deteriorated and he moved the crews to a point of safety.

Crews from Tavistock, Princetown, Plympton, Crownhill and Camel's Head were called to the fire in the early hours of Sunday morning but as they were tackling the blaze a diesel tank ruptured, sending burning fuel towards the crew and three fire engines. Two engines were moved back but the third went up in flames.

Station officer at Plymouth Wayne Rawlins said the main concern was getting the crew members away from the scene in case there was an explosion.

There were a number of cylinders on site containing the gas acetyline which when heated has the tendency to explode.

Mr Rawlins said: 'There was no time to set up a water supply from the stream further down the road at that time and we were waiting for Western Power because there was an electric cable which was arching significantly over the site.

'The fire was rapidly deteriorating and Mike Porter, realising the danger, made the decision to withdraw the firefighters at this point.'

Residents from nearby properties in the Collaton hamlet were also evacuated to a place of safety as an exclusion zone of 200 metres was set up.

After the fire engine had erupted into flames, the diesel stopped burning but continued to flow down the road and earth banks were set up to divert it into the field.

The officer continued: 'There were lots of things that could have gone wrong, but fortunately no one was hurt or injured.'

Crews worked to pump water up the hill from the stream to extinguish the fire. Crews were still at the scene the next day monitoring the cylinders and dampening down hot spots within the workshop barn which measured 30 metres by 20 metres.

The Environment Agency attended the scene to help control the diesel spillage.

A reserve fire engine has been given to Tavistock Fire Station so it has its full complement of equipment to fight future fires and attend incidents.