A Shropshire woman is suing for an undisclosed six-figure sum after becoming one of the youngest people in the UK to be diagnosed with lung disease.

The disease has allegedly been caused by asbestos fall-out from a massive blaze at an MoD site in 1983, and now the woman is suing the MoD, as well as the company her father worked for.

The Telford mother, who is in her early 30s but does not want to be identified, is claiming tens of thousands of pounds in damages from the MoD and Rubery Owen, after she was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

She is currently in hospital battling the disease, but doctors have told her she has just weeks or months to live.

She claims her terminal illness was caused by the asbestos fallout from a huge blaze at Central Ordnance Depot Donnington, as it was then known, on June 24, 1983.

Asbestos in the roof of the burning building was scattered over more than 15 sq miles of east Shropshire and more than £165 million of damage was caused.

The woman has told her lawyers, Reading-based Boyes Turner Solicitors, she remembers playing in the garden at her Leegomery home as the asbestos fell like “snow”. She was just seven when the blaze ripped through the military base.

Today, Helen Childs, representing the woman, said a meeting would be held in Telford on April 16 and 17 for people to come forward who lived in the area in 1983. She said many people may be unaware they have got symptoms of the fatal illness.

Mrs Childs said: “This is a young mum in her early 30s who has been exposed to asbestos in two potential ways.

“One way was her father used to work with asbestos when she was a young child and brought the dust home on his clothes.

“The other possibility is she was definitely exposed to asbestos as a result of the fire in Donnington in June 1983. She said she can remember she was a small child and was out playing in the ashes and dust along with the local neighbourhood children.

“The damage for somebody so young, for the pain and suffering, is £70,000 but there is the loss of care of being a mum in future years so we are claiming damages amounting to a six-figure sum.”

Mrs Childs said the case for damages against the MoD and Rubery Owen, for which the woman’s father worked, was still in the early stages, but investigations had revealed no warnings were given about the danger of the fall-out from the fire.

“My client can remember when they came to clear up the mess a couple of days later, they were wearing white suits as they knew there was a danger,” she said.

Anybody who think they may have been affected by the 1983 fire is urged to turn out at the drop-in meeting at Meeting Point House in Telford on April 16 and 17 from 9am.

In 2005 a former county firefighter who helped tackle the blaze died from lung disease, which an inquest ruled was largely caused by asbestos fall-out from the fire. Stephen Loftus, 86, had been one of the team of firefighters who battled to extinguish the 1983 blaze.

A pall of smoke more than 1,000ft high could be seen for miles around, and turned the sky black downwind, causing street lights to come on. Flames billowed hundreds of feet into the air.

Hundreds of Army and civilian staff were employed at the depot, the largest military stores depot in Europe, but happily there were no casualties.

Fire engines from all over the county raced to the scene to battle the inferno in one of the depot’s main buildings.

By Kirsty Marston