A once thriving industrial estate has been left almost derelict after a fire ripped through it, destroying a number of businesses.

Just one week on from the fire at Matching Green Airfield the charred remains of coaches, racing cars and tools are all that is left of people’s livelihoods.

Thirty-nine-year-old Jonathon Brown, who works for Allen Watson Ltd, was one of the men who helped to evacuate the Second World War aircraft hangers, before the blaze spread.

Since the incident, Mr Brown says that life on the once busy estate has changed.

He said: “It’s been really quiet, other than insurance people coming around and people looking for scrap metal after they heard about what happened.

“Cars have been driving up because they can’t get hold of the businesses and we have to tell them that they’re gone. They don’t have their phones and even mobile phones were melted in the fire because they had to leave their stuff and get out.

“I haven’t really seen anyone from the other businesses. Some of them came back to sift through the wreckage and see if they could salvage anything but even power tools kept inside boxes were melted. The heat at the time was just unreal.

“It’s all going to be pulled down, I don’t know if people are going to come back but they can’t work here at the moment.

“It’s really quiet.”

Staff from the underground boring company, Alan Watson Ltd, helped to evacuate around 35 people after the blaze began in a nearby tyre repair unit.

After realising that they were too late to tackle the blaze, Mr Brown and his colleagues began alerting surrounding businesses.

He said: “I am pleased that we didn’t lose our heads, you don’t know how you’re going to be in a situation like that.

“We’re not heroes, we just did what we could at the time.”