FIREFIGHTERS carried out repeated checks throughout the night on an acetylene cylinder which had been at the centre of explosion scare at Fareham.

Crews from Fareham, Gosport and Copnor were called to a plant hire company in Speedfields Park in Newgate Lane at 8.18am yesterday to tackle a fire involving an acetylene cylinder which was being used for cutting and welding.

A worker lit the tube that was attached to the cyclinder to begin work for the day and the flame shot back up the tube to start the fire.

No one was hurt and the fire was out within minutes.

But an exclusion zone of 100 to 150 square metres was thrown around the area, which has other businesses, including Ford Garage, Wickes and Furniture Express.

Traffic was diverted and measures were taken to avoid any danger of the cyclinder exploding.

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue spokesman said: "The crews worked on an hourly process whererby they cool the cylinder for an hour and then check the internal temperature of the cylinder using a thermal imaging camera."

The spokesman added that there would be repeated checks on the cylinder throughout the night and they were expecting this would finish at 8am today.