A FIRE ripped through two business units on an industrial estate in Kempsey.

Eyewitness Peter Carson described seeing a “massive plume of black smoke” coming from Brookend Farm Business Centre on Thursday at around 3pm.

Units 20 and 29, home of a taxi firm and vintage car business, were ravaged by flames, with firefighters working tirelessly to prevent other nearby firms going up in smoke as well.

Business centre owner Julie Aldersey said two vehicles, including a minibus, were also destroyed in the fire – with the taxi unit being “burned to the ground”.

Referring to the vintage car unit, Ms Aldersey, who has owned the centre for over 20 years, said: “We managed to get some of the vehicles out.

“There was one left in the unit on the ramp which the fire brigade kept wet so it didn’t burn but the building around it collapsed.”

She said: “Once it was ablaze, the firefighters worked at protecting a run of buildings so they didn’t catch.

“The wind was in our favour, but the flames were literally within feet of other businesses. That was the hair-raising bit. The flames were licking at the other buildings.”

Ms Aldersey said she had “never” seen a fire like that before and it was the first fire at the business centre that she knew of.

“We have never had anything like that before. No damage here like that. A few years ago a tin roof blew off in a gale, but that’s it.”

The taxi firm will be relocated to another on the site while the unit is rebuilt. The other unit is still standing but Ms Aldersey said a structural engineer, who is assessing the damage, will likely advise it is knocked down.

The owner of the vintage car firm lost the majority of his equipment, said Ms Aldersey, who will speak with him about what he wants to do next.

Mr Carson, who lives on nearby Maine Road, managed to capture the plumes of smoke on his drone camera.

Peter Carson's drone video footage

He said: “I was looking out of the front window and there was a massive plume of black smoke.

“I just thought: ‘What the hell?’

“As I was looking there was a fire engine and then another and another and it just got worse, more and more black smoke.”

“There must have been eight fire engines went by.”

The 51-year-old electronics company sales manager has lived in Kempsey since 1999 and said he had never seen a fire like it.

“There was lots of people in their cars down there and quite a number of people were across the road trying to have a look.”

He said the fire appeared to be under control by around 6pm.

A Hereford and Worcester Fire service spokeswoman said crews responded to the fire at around 3pm, with all cylinders destroyed by the fire removed

Western Power isolated the electrical supply and police closed Brookend Lane, she added. Inspections found no fire hotspots.