A ROAD partially closed for more than a year following a major fire has reopened.

A section of Barrow's Salthouse Road was shut off to cars and pedestrians after several houses were badly damaged in the blaze in 2023.

Temporary traffic lights have now been removed.

More than a dozen houses were evacuated in June 2023 after a blaze at houses on Salthouse Road and Marsh Street.

The sections of the road that meet Marsh Street and run alongside the homes were closed since the fire, with scaffolding erected to support the properties.

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It was thought the damaged houses could be a risk to motorists.

Scaffolding has now been removed with the pavement and road in front of the homes now accessible again.

The houses affected have been boarded up and left vacant with work appearing to be ready to take place on them.

Crews from across Cumbria were called to the incident which affected multiple properties at the intersection of the two roads.

At the height of the fire on June 22, eight properties were affected, and a total of 13 properties were evacuated for the residents' safety.

Three children and two adults had self-evacuated from one of the properties prior to the arrival of the fire service.

Because this incident required a multi-agency response, a major incident was declared.

Teams of firefighters battled the fire, which had spread to neighbouring properties and rendered several of them uninhabitable.

Fire investigators arrived on the scene but were unable to gain access, due to the structural integrity of several of the properties, immediately after the blaze.

It emerged that a heroic woman had helped to save four children during the incident.

Shipyard worker Carolanne McInally was on her way back from work when she spotted smoke coming out of a property on Salthouse Road.

After calling the fire brigade, she, alongside another couple, stopped to help any neighbouring properties affected by the smoke.