One man taken to hospital and restaurant evacuated after fire at Hartlepool marina
Firefighters rescued one man from a flat above the fire in Abdeil House, Slake Terrace, Hartlepool Marina.
He was taken to North Tees Hospital but was not seriously hurt.
Two other people escaped by themselves.
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Hide AdThe Conservatory restaurant was evacuated. One diner said: "Emergency services arrived and told us we had to get out of the restaurant quickly, we had to leave our food and drinks.
"A cordon was put in place and we were advised we would not be able to return back to the restaurant this evening."
Cleveland Fire Brigade received a call at 7.14pm and sent five appliances to the scene as a precaution because the blaze was in a block of flats.
"As far as we knew when we pulled up, we had six flats and we thought they were all occupied," said Crew Manager Darren Brookes, from Stranton fire station.
"It was a flat fire on the ground floor.
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Hide Ad"Two people were self-rescued and one person was rescued by fire brigade personnel from an upstairs flat. He could not get out through the smoke - he opened his door and was overcome.
"The Conservatory is part of the same building,
"The people in the restaurant had already evacuated by the time we arrived thanks to the building's fire alarm system."
The bedroom of the flat was severely damaged and there was smoke damage to much of the rest of the building.
The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.
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Hide AdA Cleveland Police statement released last night said: "Police were called by Fire Brigade colleagues this evening to assist with a fire at a block of flats known as Abdeil House on Slake Terrace in Hartlepool at 7:30pm.
"One man has been taken to hospital with minor injuries but no other injuries are believed to have been caused.
"The fire is not thought to be suspicious."
A North East Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "We got the call at 7.20pm and sent one officer, one ambulance and part of our hazardous area resposne team.
"We took one patient to North Tees Hospital."
A statement on the Hartlepool Marina Facebook page reads: "The building has sustained significant damage and is out of bounds so we would prefer berth holders keep away from the immediate area until the agency teams have deemed the area safe.
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Hide Ad"No damage to nearby vessels in the boatyard and no additional damage other than to the Abdeil house building & contents.
"Our thoughts are with the tenants and landlords and hope normal service can be resumed swiftly."
A statement from The Conservatory says: "Due to the unfortunate fire in the flats above the Conservatory last night we are unable to open today.
"The building needs to be investigated by the fire service, sorry for any inconvenience caused."
Pictures and video from https://policehour.co.uk/