FIRE has ripped through a B&M store and police are warning residents to keep windows and doors shut as the smoke is being treated as "potentially toxic".

Police say the fire broke out in the storage yard of the shop in York's Clifton Moor retail complex and the area has been evacuated.

The A1237 ring road between Wigginton roundabout and the Tesco roundabout is currently closed and motorists are urged to avoid the area.

Residents are advised to stay indoors and close all their windows while emergency services tackle the blaze.


The roof of the building has now collapsed and a resident says there is a "blanket of smoke" across the area.

A shopper at the scene said: "It smells acrid, it's disgusting. It looks like a volcano, there are massive plumes of smoke that suddenly shoot out.

"Quite a big area has been sealed off and there is thick, dense black smoke which you must be able to see from absolutely miles away. It's billowing north. The incident command unit has just arrived. The traffic is totally gridlocked."

Liam Cadd, a personal trainer at Pure Gym on Clifton Moor, said within an hour the B&M store had been "engulfed" in flames.

He said: "It must have been after 4.30pm when one of the members knocked on the office door and said there was a fire next door. The police asked us to evacuate the gym.

"The fire looked like it was in the store yard but then we could see flames coming through the roof. 

"We heard banging and popping noises, we don't know if there were fireworks inside. We were told there may be compressed gas cylinders inside.

"We could feel the heat from the fire, it was quite strong. The back of the store started falling apart and the whole building is demolished."

He said about 60 people were evacuated from the gym, which is about 30 yards from the store, and added: "Everyone at the gym was fine and no one was injured."

North Yorkshire Fire Service say they currently have 10 pumps, two aerial ladder platforms, two water bowsers and a high volume pump at the scene.


A Yorkshire Ambulance Service spokeswoman said that although staff attended the scene as a precaution, no-one has been admitted to hospital.

Councillor Stuart Rawlings, who represents Rawcliffe and Clifton Without, has also been encouraging people in his ward to stay indoors and keep windows closed. 

"Because there's thick smoke and it's drifting towards Haxby and Wigginton they are asking people to keep their windows closed, and I just think that's a prudent thing to do," he told The Press. 

He said he was being updated on the situation by a City of York Council emergency officer, adding: "The most important question I have asked is 'do we believe anyone has been injured' and we do not believe anyone has been.

”They are expecting to be fighting the fire through the night.”

He said the council's role at this stage was to reassure residents that the fire was under control and being contained, they would later look at what went wrong.

Nearby gym Roko Health Club is closed and a spokesman for the centre says it will also be shut tomorrow.