FIRE crews from Bovey Tracey, Teignmouth and Newton Abbot assisted at a major incident in Exeter last night (Feb 21st).

They were among 17 crews tasked to tackle a blaze at the Riverside Leisure Centre in Cowick Street which broke out late in the afternoon.

The fire is believed to have started on the first floor in the sauna area and subsequently spread to other parts of the building and into the roofspace."

A fire service spokesman said: "Initially ten appliances were sent to the scene but by 21.00hrs there were a total of 17 pumps with close on 120 firefighters in attendance "

"Crews made steady progress using 8 breathing apparatus , 3 hosereel jets and 2 main jets to extinguish the fire which had got into the air conditioning ducts and roofspace"

"We are also worked alongside other agencies such as Environment Agency to ensure any environmental impact to the local area was minimized."

The centre was evacuated within minutes and apart from two casualties, one suffering from smoke inhalation and the other burns, there have been no serious injuries.The blaze was brought under control just after midnight and the incident was scaled down with just one fire appliance remaining by 07.00 hours this morning (Feb 22nd).