Council supports people evacuated after church fire

Carmarthenshire County Council supported around 50 people evacuated from their homes during the height of the blaze that tore through Llanelli’s former Park United Reformed Church in Murray Street last night.

Staff from social care and leisure services assisted emergency services to evacuate people away from the scene, with a rest centre set up at Llanelli Leisure Centre, and a smaller number of elderly people and children conveyed to Llys Y Bryn Care Home, although most people found their own accommodation with friends and family.

The council’s civil contingencies staff were called into action shortly after 7pm, and stood down around 3am.

They included officers from social care, leisure, building control, highways and caretakers.

Building control staff remain on scene this morning, working alongside emergency services personnel to assess the state of the building, given its weakened structure.

Cllr Hazel Evans, Executive Board Member for Environment, with responsibility for civil contingencies, said: “I wish to commend members of the public who were evacuated from their homes last night for their response to the incident, as well as our staff who implemented our civil contingencies plan – many people worked throughout the night to ensure the comfort and safety of people who were caught up in the incident.

“Colleagues in building control continue to work with the emergency services to assess the building and make the area safe.”

A traffic exclusion zone remains in place, affecting roads around the church including Murray Street and Inkerman Street.

Some stunning pictures kindly provided by Jonathan Snaith can be found here.

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