'we couldn't open the door, we couldn't do anything for the smoke'

THICK PLUMES OF PITCH-BLACK SMOKE ENGULFED THE NEIGHBOURHOOD 16:11, 22 May 2025 People living on a Liverpool city centre caravan site shut their doors and locked their windows as thick

plumes of pitch-black smoke engulfed their neighbourhood. A blaze broke out in a corner of Tara Park, off Oil Street, after a rubbish fire spread to a nearby caravan. Mersey Fire and Rescue

Service were called to the scene shortly after 8.50pm on Wednesday, May 21, following reports of a fire. Three fire engines and several police cars attended the incident. Plumes of smoke

could be seen billowing above Costco as fire crews worked to extinguish the flames. One female resident said: "Everyone was in watching telly and the next we heard 'bang

bang', and the caravan went up in flames. My brother is a very sick man and the smoke nearly got into everything. "We couldn't open the door, we couldn't open the

windows, we couldn't do anything for the smoke. When I looked out, it was right up. The smoke was black - black-black." The devastated remains of the burned-out caravan could be

seen near the entrance of the caravan park today, May 22, as residents cleaned smoke damage from their own mobile homes. Article continues below Speaking to the ECHO, a number of Tara Park

residents said the burned-out caravan had stood derelict for ages, and had been filled with unwanted timber and other rubbish. One male neighbour said: "I wasn't here when it

happened. When I came back, it was all gone. I came back about 11.30pm. "They kept it up for rubbish. It shouldn't have been there but it was. Not scrap, just timber and gas

bottles - it all blew up. The council is coming tomorrow to take it all away now, we hope. "The smoke started getting to me. So I thank God I wasn't here at that time. I had to got

to the doctor this morning because I couldn't breathe properly." Several residents said they suspected the fire was the result of an arson attack. But Mersey Fire and Rescue

Service said "the incident is not being treated as suspicious." One woman said: "Nobody was living in (the caravan) anyhow. We're waiting on the council to take it away,

though the council don't really come down here. Article continues below "We try to keep it tidy and nice - all you can do is try. I never knew anything about it until I looked up,

saw smoke and that was it. It was very smoky." A spokesperson for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said: "Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service attended an incident on Oil Street,

Liverpool. Crews were alerted at 8.51pm and three fire engines arrived on scene at 8.58pm. "Crews arrived to find a rubbish fire that had spread to a nearby caravan. Firefighters

wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the fire using a main branch hose and a hose reel jet. Fire crews then remained on scene to dampen down the area before leaving at 9.40pm."