Firefighters spend more than an hour to get blaze under control at DIY store in Lowestoft, Suffolk at the weekend.

The fire, which started just after 12.30pm at Rushmere DIY on Saturday, June 6, is thought to have originated in a single-storey timber mill, which houses a door shed, timber rack and assortment of machinery.

Two fire engines arrived at the scene on Newcombe Road and managed to put the blaze out by 2pm, although the crews had to remain at the scene for some time afterwards damping down the remaining timber and wood panels.

Fortunately firefighters managed to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to adjacent buildings.

Rushmere's Barry Trindall told DIY Week that the cause of the fire is still unknown, although it is not being treated as suspicious and could have been sparked by an electrical fault.

"The whole workshop and the machinery were completely destroyed. We're still trading - we can't do a lot of machining obviously but it hasn't affected the manufacturing side of the business."

The power was down at the store yesterday as an electrician worked to make the site safe, although all is up and running today.

Mr Trindall added: "The part of the building where we had the fire is quite old and contains asbestos so we've got the asbestos people in now making sure everything is ok. Once everything is sorted, we should be back to normal quite quickly."

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