Cadent hails 'incredible' Chester residents as gas restored to some homes after fire

Gas supplies have been restored to some residents affected by Friday night's gas main fire. A spokesperson for Cadent Gas confirmed today that around a quarter of affected properties now have gas again.

Around 2,250 homes were left without gas following the blaze on Dee Banks, Great Boughton, according to Cheshire West and Chester Council. The huge blaze, directly outside Dee Banks School and the Red House, burned for over four hours with firefighters keeping the flames contained with water, before the gas supply was cut shortly after midnight.

Residents were evacuated from nearby properties as flames leaped higher than the roofs of surrounding houses. Three schools, a care home, a supermarket and several churches are also affected by the gas outage across Huntington and parts of Great Boughton.

Dee Banks School will remain closed this week. Gas engineers have been investigating the cause and attempting to restore gas to all areas affected, Cadent Gas said.

READ MORE: Chester gas main inferno leaves school closed for week as 2,250 properties affected | A huge fireball ignited on Dee Banks, Great Boughton, on Friday evening after a gas leak

READ MORE: Dramatic images of Chester gas main inferno as 'many' homes still without supply | Firefighters spent hours tackling the huge blaze as residents face being without gas for a fourth night

Phil Hendrick, leading Cadent's response to the incident, said everything in the network must be checked before gas can be restored, including domestic gas appliances. Mr Hendrick said: “We were able to restore gas last night to a number of areas that lost supply after Friday’s incident, and we are working hard today to introduce gas into more areas.

“This is a big task. We need to carefully reintroduce gas to the network, checking every pipe, every property, every boiler and every gas appliance as we do so.

“The response from the customers impacted by this has been nothing short of incredible. Kind, courteous and understanding to my team – despite the situation they find themselves in. Thank you, from every one of us to every one of you.

“While we are making good progress, we have wanted to manage expectations and not promise what we can’t deliver. I hope people understand that safety remains our top priority. Please follow our webpage and social media for the latest updates – or come to speak to our customer team based at St Luke’s Church.”

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