Fire in central Headington: Saturday 22 July 2006
From house at top of Kennett Road, c.2.20pm
Top of Kennett Road, just before evacuation
Windmill Road, c.5pm Saturday
Kennett Road, c.5pm Saturday
From house at top of Kennett Road, c.3.45pm Sunday
Storage building of Richens Mobility Centre, 24 hours after the blaze
Seven fire engines with 50 firefighters were called to a fire at the Richens Mobility Centre behind the shops at the north-west side of Windmill Road on Saturday 23 July 2006 at 3pm.
The workshop that was on fire contained an acetylene gas cylinder, which has to be treated like an unexploded bomb and kept cool and observed for 24 hours. Hence a 200m cordon was set around the blaze, and all houses in Kennett Road and those in Windmill Road north of Bateman Street were evacuated immediately. People furthest from the blaze were allowed back after 7pm on Saturday, but about fifty people from the top end of each street were not allowed back until the exclusion zone was lifted at 3.20pm on Sunday and had to spend the night elsewhere.