Hundreds of Co Down residents returned to their homes last night after a fire in a workshop came close to causing a massive explosion.
They were forced to move out after the blaze broke out at a garage workshop close to gas cylinders in the village of Millisle, Co Down.
Emergency services set up an exclusion zone as soon as they moved in to the scene on Main Street on Saturday night.
Residents left their homes and were put up for the night at a nearby church hall. Fire chiefs warned it could take 24 hours for the area to be declared safe.
Assistant Group Commander David Patten insisted the intense heat so close to the cylinders had been too great a risk to the public.
He said: "It would probably cause an explosion if it wasn't cooled down with spray jets of water."
Work to make the gas cylinders safe was completed late yesterday and a police spokesman confirmed the village had been fully reopened.