Firefighters are continuing to sift through the debris at the scene of one of the largest fires in Cumbria in recent years.

Tuesday’s fire, destroyed two Maryport business premises, and saw crews still at the site for more than 24 hours after flames were first spotted.

Incident commander Adrian Holme, of Cumbria County Council Fire and Rescue Service, said crews at Glasson Industrial Estate finally had the blaze surrounded yesterday afternoon, and then concentrated on damping down some deep-seated pockets of fire.

The A596 from Maryport to Flimby reopened yesterday and trains are running on the coastal line again but Irish Street and Hutton Place remain closed following the blaze.

Fire and rescue service area manager John McVay confirmed that neighbouring business Fearon Builders was also devastated in the blaze that destroyed the SIS Pitches warehouse.

He said police are involved as a matter of routine but there was nothing at this stage to suggest the fire was deliberately started. Businesses and offices on the estate were evacuated.

He added: “This was because of the intensity of the fire but also because we had to cut off electricity to the site.

“We asked residents in the area to keep doors and windows closed because of the smoke plume. We obtained information about the substances that were burning but there was nothing harmful except the dense smoke itself.”

Nobody was injured in the blaze. At the height of the fire there were 12 fire engines and upwards of 60 firefighters and officers involved in tackling the blaze.

They came from all over Cumbria including the aerial ladder platform from Carlisle. Sellafield also sent a specialist tender and high pressure hoses were used.

Maryport’s crew was first on the scene at about 1.30pm and remained until 1am, returning at 8.30am to damp down the fire.

Mr McVay praised the firefighters for their efforts.

He said the response had been a multi-agency effort with the county council’s highways department, police, the Environment Agency and United Utilities all helping.

Bryn Lee, managing director of SIS Pitches, said: “Our highest priority is the safety and well being of our staff and those within the vicinity of the fire and we are thankful that nobody has been injured.

“We pride ourselves on our excellent safety procedures and will be carrying out a full investigation into the cause of the fire.

“The incident was contained within one facility and all other SIS Pitches facilities are in full operation.”

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Seven hundred businesses and residents were left without power in the wake of the fire.

Most had their electricity restored within three hours but late yesterday afternoon there were still 21 premises without power.

An Electricity North West spokeswoman said the fire damaged a substation at around 3pm.

She added an assessment of the full work needed to repair the substation would be carried out after it was safe to do so.

Some businesses remained closed in the aftermath of the blaze.

While there were those that opted to try and carry on as usual, others made the decision that traffic disruption and the presence of emergency vehicles made it more prudent to shut yesterday.

Evelyn Farish, of Maryport Valet Services, said the fire had been disruptive but added that “everyone is just grateful that nobody was hurt”.

“Our lads were in the middle of washing a car when the water just stopped,” she explained.

“I don’t care. They [the firefighters] needed it more than we did.”

Wayne Crozier, of Crozier Construction, said the fire was blowing in the opposite direction to Crozier and he is counting himself lucky.

“Our yard is very close to Fearon’s,” he said. “We are builders, too, and had a load of materials in the yard. We were very lucky. I feel terrible for them.”

H e said he was unable to get back to his yard to unload his vans on Tuesday night.

“ That was just an inconvenience. I am glad nobody was injured in this fire.”

Children at Grasslot Infant School were sent home early on Tuesday afternoon.

Headteacher Karen Louden said the flames and the smoke plume started to upset the children.

“ We weren’t in any danger but I knew traffic was being disrupted and some of the children were becoming quite upset.

“ We texted parents at 2pm to tell them about the fire and assure them that we were safe. About 20 minutes later we told parents to pick up their children if they could.”

Yesterday morning there was a full roll, she said.