One man was taken to hospital as crews from across Norfolk tackled the blaze at a business premises in Setchey.

One man was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital with burns to his hands and arms following the serious fire which had broken out inside a shipping container, close to gas cylinders.

Neil Richardson, from Norfolk Fire and Resuce, was in charge of the response, which lasted around five hours yesterday afternoon.

He said: 'If I think about the worse case scenario, we ceratinly had it in front of us.'

At one point, 50 firefighters were at the scene at WN Surfacing in Garage Lane, in Setchey - and crews travelled from as far as Wymondham and Thetford to tackle the blaze.

Experts in handling hazardous materials also worked alongside firefighters from King's Lynn, Downham Market, Hunstanton, Terrington, Sandringham and Fakenham. The water carrier from Fakenham was also needed.

Mr Richardson, who is based in King's Lynn, said: 'Our main risk in the incident was that the cyclinders would explode.

'There were 10 in total with aceltyne, propane and oxygen.

He added: 'Among the safety measures in place was a 200 metre cordon around the site and local businesses were evacuated.'

Crews were set to take carry out further precautionary checks last night. The incident is not being treated as suspicious.

Last night a spokesman for WN Surfacing declined to comment.