OFFICE workers were evacuated today after a fire involving a lorry loaded with explosive gas.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service set up a 100-metre exclusion zone around the lorry amid fears of a blast.
The vehicle was carrying a one-tonne tank that was half full of liquid propane gas.
It was in Cadland Road, Hardley, close to the main entrance to Fawley oil refinery, when the blaze broke out just after 9am.
Firefighters from Beaulieu, Hardley, Hythe and Totton were joined by colleagues from the St Mary's fire station in Southampton.
They extinguished the flames but sprayed the tank with water to cool it down and prevent an explosion.
A fire service spokesman said workers in a group of portable buildings near the lorry were evacuated as a precaution.
Tanker drivers heading for the refinery were directed to another entrance at the opposite end of the huge petro-chemical complex.
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