BUSINESS in Tavistock's Pannier Market ground to a halt last Friday, following an electrical blaze.

The fire in an electricity pole opposite the Soft Touch Needlecraft shop forced the closure of the entire market and a section of the perimeter road.

Endsleigh Garden Nursery owner Michael Taylor was serving a customer at his stall — which surrounded the pole — at around 10.30am.

'I was at the back of the van when there was a bang immediately behind me and flames started shooting out of the pole. I got out my mobile phone to call the fire brigade, but they arrived as I did so!' Mr Taylor said.

He said the Town Hall alarm had been going off intermittently for some time, so presumed that was why the fire officers appeared on the scene before a call was made.

Tavistock Fire Station's sub officer Glenn Arundel said two appliances arrived on the scene within four minutes.

Firefighters evacuated the market as smoke started to enter via the roof.

At the same time police officers who had been on a different incident and happened to be in the market assisted market fire marshalls in evacuating the building and cordoning off the area.

Also by chance, two employees of Western Power were in the area and immediately got to work to isolate the cable.

Mr Taylor's tables and plants around the pole suffered only slight damage from the heat and he was able to start trading again after a couple of hours, together with other stallholders outside the market in the affected corner.

Shoe stall holder Philip Smart is the fire marshall for that corner of the market. He said it had been 'raining sparks' and there had been 'a lot of noise and crackling'.

'Within a matter of minutes everyone had been moved out of the market. There was no panic or confusion and it all went excellently. The fire system worked very well and people's reactions were very good.'

The flames died out at 10.58am, soon after the cable had been isolated.

The problem, caused by arcing in cables due to a short, was thought to be down to normal wear and tear in the cables and not any overload.

Tavistock Police Station was among 27 premises without power as a result of the incident. Western Power Distribution used generators to restore power to the shops and the market itself within around an hour-and-a-half, but the market remained closed for business for the rest of the day.

Western Power restored power to the remaining ten affected customers in the area by 3.15pm.