Firefighters from St Mary’s and Hightown were called to a retail warehouse site in Cobden Avenue, home to City Plumbing and The Bathroom Showroom, at around 11am on March 20.
The fire began outside, involving pallets at the rear of the premises.
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One of the fire engines at the scene this morning. (Image: Erin Rhodes)
A fire spokesperson told the Echo: “Crews from St Mary’s and Hightown attended a fire at a commercial property in Cobden Avenue at around 11am this morning (March 20).
“The fire involved pallets that were outside at the rear of the property. Firefighters used two main jets to extinguish the fire.”
Chris Edsall, assistant manager at City Plumbing, said he noticed the fire take hold of a pile of pallets out the back of warehouse.
He said: “I called 999 and made sure everybody got out there were five people in the store and all five got out safely.
“The fire started in the warehouse, it was quite big and we could see the flames.
“There were five fire engines and they arrived within ten minutes of me making the call.
“There’s no internal damage to the shop, but out the back is all metal so the paint has come off and the guttering has melted.”
Video from the scene shows smoke billowing from the building as flames rise.
Steve Parnell, a volunteer at Bitterne Park United Reformed Church, was one of those who noticed the fire response.
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Chris Edsall, assistant manager at City Plumbing. (Image: Erin Rhodes)
He said: “I was quite shocked to see the fire engines out front. I went to check if the fire had spread to the church but luckily not and there’s a bit of a smell of smoke.
“The showroom has been here a long time and since they’ve moved in I’ve never seen anything like it.
“I’m glad it’s been put out and thankfully it didn’t reach the church premises.”
Southampton Roads posted an alert at 12.07pm warning of lane restrictions on Cobden Avenue while emergency services worked at the site. The incident was later reported as cleared.