The scene of this morning's fire in Old Amersham. Click here for a view from the rear.

16 June 2008

Forty firefighters have worked through the night to prevent a fire destroying a terrace of six shops.

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service was called to The Famous Fish Company in High Street, Old Amersham, at 12.18am today. Smoke and flames were coming through the roof and the fire was starting to spread along the terrace.

Incident Commander Keith Williams said: "Firefighters were able to create a break between the third and fourth shops. They did really well to prevent the whole terrace from going up in flames."

Three of the shops in the 30m by 60m terrace suffered severe damage to the ground floor, first floor and roof. A fourth was about 25 per cent damaged, and two others suffered smoke damage.

Firefighters used eight sets of breathing apparatus and four jets. Crews came from Amersham, Chesham, Great Missenden, Beaconsfield and High Wycombe, with support units from Aylesbury.

A section of Old Amersham High Street has had to be closed to traffic.

An investigation into the cause of the fire started this morning.