Dawlish News

Firefighters had to force their way into a South Devon nightclub after smoke and flames were seen coming from the second floor of the premises. The alarm at Cools in Teignmouth was raised by a shopper passing the scene in Northumberland Place. Firefighters from the town were joined by crews from Dawlish and Torquay to deal with the incident just after 9am. It is believed the fire in an office had been going for some time before it was noticed by the member of the public. Station Officer Ian Radford said: "It had been burning for some time, and large parts of the building were full of smoke. "Because the property is unoccupied in the day it is well secured, so we had to force an entry. "We used six sets of breathing apparatus to search the building and make sure there was nobody there." It took his teams about 45 minutes to bring the blaze under control. "But we stayed on the scene for about two and a half hours making sure there were no further outbreaks," he said. Most of the damage was caused by smoke, and the club will close for a couple of days while insurers and surveyors make a thorough check of the premises.