Firefighters were forced to evacuate four houses in Sheffield on Friday lunchtime after a wheelie bin fire spread to the gas pipe of a derelict house.

The blaze ignited the gas causing flames to shoot out of the side of the property on Severnside Drive in Woodhouse, at around midday.

Around 14 people were asked to leave their homes as fire crews set up a 20 metre safety cordon around the fire, and engineers from Transco were called to the area to isolate the gas supply.

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue said: “Public safety is always our number one priority and so a number of local residents were out of their properties for a short time until the scene was made safe.

“Yet again this incident shows how something as small as a bin fire can place people’s property and personal safety in danger, and tie up fire service resources.”

The bin fire is believed to have been started deliberately.