MEMBERS of a Dulverton fitness club had a lucky escape on Wednesday when fire broke out in their gym building just ten minutes after their class had finished.

The streets around the Parish Rooms in Rosemary Lane were cordoned off as crews from four stations fought a fire which gutted the 1610 Exmoor Fitness Centre .

Their efforts also saved a valuable collection of over 600 costumes owned by the Dulverton Players dramatic society, which rents the top half of the building, buyilt in 1912, as a rehearsal room and costume and property store.

Exmoor Fitness Centre is one of 18 gyms the 1610 group operates across Somerset and Dorset.

The centre’s Wednesday morning steps exercise class had finished at 10.10am and the teacher was preparing to leave ten minutes later when she saw smoke coming from the ceiling and called the emergency services.

Firefighters from Dulverton, Tiverton, Wiveliscombe and South Molton found a fire had broken out in the roof space and used breathing apparatus to tackle the blaze, which took several hours to control and severely damaged the ground floor of the building.

A Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said:”Electricity in the building was turned off and the police closed nearby roads.

“It is believed that the fire was caused by an electrical fault in the roof space. A fire investigations officer was requested to attend to confirm this.

“The building was heavily smoke-logged.There was 100 per cent heat and smoke damage on the ground floor and 100 per cent smoke damage on the upper floor.”

More than 600 costumes, some dating back to the early1900s, are stored in the upstairs rooms . They have been collected by the Dulverton Players over the past 70 years and are worth several thousand pounds.

“Everything is covered with soot and smells of smoke,” said the Players’ production manager Christine Dubery.

Full story in the Free Press