A HEREFORD teacher tackled a car fire that had a ‘very real risk of explosion’ on Friday.

Gordon Robinson was home relaxing after teaching PE at the Brookfield School and Specialist College when he saw the car fire across the road from his house along the A49 Ross Road.

He immediately grabbed two fire extinguishers from the school minibus and rushed to tackle the flames. He also stopped traffic along the road when he learned that the car was fuelled by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

He said: “I was more concerned when I learned the car could go boom at any time, so I, and a man who had been driving a utility van, stopped people coming along the road.

“It does wake you up when you learn there is the potential of a big explosion, and I know it could have been nasty.

“Afterwards I went to the fire station to see if they could refill my two extinguishers but they said it is not something they do. It costs about £80 to do both so if anyone could help refill them that would be appreciated.”

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS) set up an official cordon and told residents to stay away from windows, before continuing
to extinguish the fire.

Watch Commander Boris Borkowski from HWFRS said: “From a distance, this would have looked like an ordinary car fire but there was a risk throughout that one of the four LPG tanks fitted to the vehicle could explode and so the precautions we took were necessary for both firefighter and public safety.”