SIX families have been evacuated from their homes because of fears of a gas cylinder explosion following a workshop fire.

Fire crews from Ashford set up the 200m exclusion zone around a property in Brabourne, near Ashford, just after 6am today after they discovered oxyacetylene tanks in a garden building which had caught alight.

The families will be homeless for at least 24 hours until the firefighters declare the area safe.

Lee Rose, station commander at Ashford fire station, said: “We are looking at 24 hours of pouring copious amounts of water on it before we can even think about moving the cylinders.

“As soon as we identified that there was oxyacetylene involved, we withdrew and set up a 200m exclusion zone because it’s basically a mini bomb.”

At the height of the incident, 40 firefighters from Ashford, Folkestone, Aldington and Wye were working at the scene.

Brabourne village hall was opened to house the evacuated families during the day, but most were believed to be staying with neighbours.

Police and fire spokesmen said that the earliest the families could expect to return was tomorrow morning.