These were the black clouds of smoke stunned shoppers could see from Deal town centre yesterday.

They came from the a fire at the Blue Mermaid Fish Bar in nearby Victoria Road.

Despite the dramatic sight the fire had only been confined to one overheated fryer.

But such cooking oil can give of high proportions of smoke, firefighters say.

Neighbour Steven Wright, who took the striking photograph, said: “I was on my way up to the High Street to go shopping when I saw this black plume of smoke in the sky.

“It was billowing furiously and was quite dramatic looking. It was shocking to see so much smoke.

Mr Wright went directly to the scene and said: “The interior of the shop was completely filled with black smelly smoke and the firemen had to use masks and oxygen to go in.

“There was a lot of black smoke coming out of the back of the shop via the extractor fan. You could smell it strongly from 50 yards away.

“Onlookers were alarmed but the fire engine arrived within minutes and seemed to have it under control very quickly.”

“It’s a relief that it didn’t get bigger.”

The fire had broken out at the shop at 11.30am just before it opened for its day of trading.

Firefighters believe that overheating of the fryer had been caused by last residues of oil from previous use.

Deal station watch manager Malcolm Cowie said: “This oil does smoke heavily but it was a small fire, which we put out with powder.

“We then had to make sure the oil cooled down. Cooking oil like this can hold its heat and can reach temperatures of 150C.”

Firefighters used a pressure ventilator to clear the smoke from inside the premises.
Nobody was hurt in the drama.

One fire engine attended and the crew was at the scene for about half an hour.