'You first thought is, is that the end of Port Talbot?': Steelworker's fears as fire breaks out

A steelworker who was evacuated as flames tore through a Tata Steel building in Port Talbot said he has never seen a fire "spread so quickly".

No one was hurt but the blaze, which broke out on Wednesday evening, caused a giant section of roof to collapse on a processing line, as well as plumes of smoke to spread across parts of the town.

Tata Steel said its "hot strip mill" was offline until next week, with processing moved to its Llanwern site near Newport as it assessed the extent of the damage.

Fire crews from across south Wales faced "extensive infrastructure and hazardous materials" Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MWWFRS) said, with crews leaving on Friday morning.

The fire took place in an industrial building measuring 1,200 metres by 200 metres, used as a cold mill and pickle line, with support offered by South Wales and Avon fire and rescue services.

At the height of the incident, 31 fire engines and more than 100 firefighters attended the incident, MWWFRS said.

Jason Midwinter, 52, who has worked at the steelworks for 18 years, said that upon seeing the extent of the fire his initial concern was about the future of the site.

"Your instant thoughts are, if this is the end of the pickle line, is that the end of Port Talbot?" he said.

"I've seen fires before. I've never seen something like that spread so quickly," he said.

Midwinter said the staff were quickly evacuated to safety and soon saw black smoke coming from the roof.

"Where the fire started from is nowhere near the roof, so I knew it was getting worse and worse," he said.

“You could see throughout the night it was travelling with the wind down the bay and obviously getting more and more intense," he said.

"I just thought this is going to be bad for Port Talbot. Bad for everybody involved.

"It is emotional. It's upsetting. It's the not knowing what the future holds," he said.

The fire broke out abot 20:00 BST on Wednesday, when Siân Thomas, who lives in nearby Margam, said she heard a loud bang that "frightened everybody and the animals", followed by the sound of alarms.

"The smoke got thicker and the sky was black," she said.

"It was very scary."

Thomas said she was "so grateful" to the fire brigade for bringing the blaze under control and working throughout the night to extinguish it.

RRT UK said volunteers arrived within 90 minutes of the callout and served 125 hot meals overnight to keep crews supported as they continued their work.

"We are grateful to every responder who attended this challenging incident," it added.

Although the smoke had been heavy overnight, by Thursday morning small wisps of smoke could be seen rising from behind the buildings, a BBC reporter said from the scene.

Sean Slaymaker from MWWFRS said it was "hard to imagine" the industrial setting fire fighters had faced, with the fire taking place in a building "about 12 times the length of the Principality Stadium".

"You can imagine in an industrial setting like that, there are numerous sort of machinery and process hazards for us to deal with," he told BBC Radio Wales Drive.

Slaymaker added that the next phase would be to establish what caused the fire.

Tata Steel said in a statement on Friday afternoon that work was "now underway to carry out a full assessment of the area affected".

It said "mitigation plans" were in place that were "focused on maintaining continuity of supply and supporting our customers during this period".

"Our priority remains the safety of our people and the safe, stable operation of our assets," it said.