TWENTY-FIVE Hamworthy residents had to be evacuated from 10 homes on Tuesday night after a blaze destroyed a brick garage.

Used as a storeroom and packed with expensive tools and possessions, the garage in the rear garden of a house in Caversham Close, also housed petrol and two cylinders, one containing butane.

A 100-metre cordon was thrown up and 20 firefighters from Hamworthy and Poole fought the blaze which threatened the house, as residents were evacuated from the cul-de-sac and nearby Dean Close.

Homeowners’ son Matthew Jones, 24, made a valiant attempt to fight the flames after spotting the outbreak as he was cleaning the kitchen floor shortly after 9pm.

“I saw flames inside the garage,” he said. “I got the hosepipe, but it wasn’t any good.”

Neighbour Jane Williams, 53, said her husband Colin spotted smoke coming from the garage when he went out to water their flowers.

“He called me and I raced around here to call Terry and call the fire brigade,” she said.

“It went up really quickly,” she said. “They had to take the hose across my garden as well. Then they said we all had to get out because of the gas bottle.”

Closest neighbours were out of their homes for two hours and the welfare vehicle arrived to provide hot drinks for residents.

Terry Jones said his garage had contained everything from his kayak equipment to rare parts for his classic 1970s Yamaha motorbike, plastering and other tools, patio furniture, a diving air bottle, rotavator, freezer full of food and much more.

“It was lucky my bike wasn’t in there,” he said. The blaze scorched an overhanging mature oak tree, burnt a tall yucca plant and damaged patio doors on the house.

Firefighters from Dorset Fire and Rescue were at the scene until midnight. The fire is not thought to be deliberate and the cause is being investigated.