Detectives probing the aftermath of a garage fire which sparked a mass evacuation in Cross Gates have charged a man with handling a stolen car found burned out at the scene.
* Click here to sign up to free news and sport email alerts from Cross Gates Today.At least 40 homes were evacuated in the Cross Gates area on Thursday, August 7, after a fire broke out in a rented pre-cast concrete domestic garage containing an oxy-acetylene gas cylinder in Poplar Avenue shortly before 1.30pm.
Fears that the cylinder, which had become overheated in the fire, might explode led to the residents evacuation coordinated by Leeds City Council's emergency planning team.
A 200 metre exlusion zone was put in place with people living in Poplar Avenue and nearby Austhorpe Road and Marshall Terrace being ordered to leave their homes. Some residents were taken to John Smeaton sports centre nearby and some were given overnight accommodation at a hotel in Colton.
Now it has been revealed that Terry Burke, 26, from Cross Gates, was arrested the following day for an alleged offence of receiving a stolen car found within the burned out garage.
He has appeared at Leeds Magistrates Court where he was remanded in custody.
Though the fire in the garage was put out quickly, firefighters spent the night at the scene cooling the cylinders and were still cooling the cylinders 24 hours after the outbreak.
Cordon
Crews from Stanks and Gipton found the car ablaze in the garage, which also contained cylinders of flammable acetylene gas.
West Yorkshire Police closed roads in the area and a cordon was put up around the exclusion zone.
One resident Emily Boldison, 22, of Chestnut Avenue, had to leave her car at a pub further down the street because she could not drive to her house.
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