A MAJOR alert sparked by a fire in a commercial garage led to a large-scale evacuation of homes and businesses around Bournemouth's Holdenhurst Road on Monday.

The fire involving two acetylene cylinders at Cleveland Motor Services in Cleveland Road, led to the closure of part of Holdenhurst Road and Cleveland Road.

Dorset Fire and Rescue received a call at 9.10am and swiftly set-up the 100m cordon around the area.

Four fire engines with around 25 firefighters and a specialist Land Rover vehicle attended the incident along with police and ambulance, with officers manning the cordons and diverting residents and traffic.

The cordon was scaled down to 25metres at lunchtime after firefighters spent the morning keeping the canisters cool with water while the gas was expelled.

People living and working inside the cordon were told to leave their homes and workplaces, while those outside the cordon were warned to stay inside away from windows.

Resident Terry Butler, 65, said: "I saw the flames, it was well alight in the garage workshop.

"It was just by the bottles. The light bulbs were bursting.

"The staff were all stood at the side of the workshop."

Natalya Sergeyeva had to flee her home dressed in her dressing gown.

The Latvian said: "I rent in a house and the owner knocked and said there was a problem and to go outside. I start work at 2pm."

Laura Ferguson from Innovo Residential was allowed to pick up some material from her evacuated estate agents office.

She said: "You can smell gas in the office. Monday mornings are incredibly busy for us. It couldn't have happened at a worse time."

Ben Merrifield, 17, who works at a nearby garage, said: "There was clouds of smoke wafting around.

"There wasn't any panic but the fire and police turned up and said people had to be evacuated from their homes."

Dorset Fire and Rescue group manager Phil Head said: "The damage appears to be confined to the valve group which means the integrity of the bottles has been maintained."

After a decision had been made to stop cooling, the bottles were then checked every 15 minutes for an hour.

He said the rule of thumb for danger was 300C with firefighters using a thermal camera to monitor the temperature.

He said: "Acetylene bottles pose a significant risk."

He said the cause looks like a blowback from an acetylene torch which "isn't uncommon."

He praised the garage staff for very quickly alerting the fire service to the risk from the cylinders.

Traffic was already heavy in the area after an earlier five car collision on the Wessex Way.