LIVES WOULD have been lost during the massive gas explosion in Shrewsbury if it had not been for the public’s swift response to the disaster, a senior fire chief has said.

Andy Johnson, head of district performance at Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, praised the actions of quick-thinking people who responded in the aftermath of the blast.

He said their response on January 3 “made all the difference”.

Mr Johnson made the comments during a meeting of Shrewsbury Business Chamber last night, when he gave a presentation on the service’s response to the explosion at the corner of Bridge Street and Smithfield Road.

He showed CCTV footage at the time of the incident and in the minutes that followed, which showed passers-by and two on duty police officers rushing to the scene to search the rubble.

The footage showed that within three minutes a person was freed before a small fire began to take hold.

Mr Johnson, who was on call at the time of the explosion, said: “The initial community response made all the difference during this incident. We would have had fatalities in this incident if the community hadn’t responded in the way they did and I couldn’t pay them enough tribute.

“I can guarantee, despite our best efforts, if that person had been embedded there, it would have taken 30 to 40 seconds to get water on the fire, but that person probably wouldn’t have survived.”

He added that multi-agency working had been key in managing the aftermath of the explosion and said he had full confidence in the resources available to the service.

Not only were pumps provided from across the county to attend the scene, but urban search and rescue teams were also deployed from Merseyside, Leicestershire, Hereford and Worcester, he said.

Mr Johnson was invited to talk at the meeting to outline the workings of the fire and rescue service in response to major disasters.

He offered advice to people from the business chamber, Shop in the Loop and Shrewsbury Tourism on ways of developing a plan of action to secure their businesses during a major incident.

The cause of the blast is still under investigation.

By Charlotte Hester