Mum's praise for nursery as children evacauted following nearby blaze

A grateful mum has heaped praise on staff at a Doncaster nursery who led dozens of children to safety after a huge blaze erupted nearby.

Flames tore through the premises of Royal Conversion, an ice cream van renovation workshop in Balby yesterday afternoon, with explosions heard and six fire crews tackling the flames which sent a huge plume of smoke into the skies above Doncaster.

The blaze impacted nearby children’s nursery Sunny Skies with one parent, who asked not to be named, praising staff for their response to the drama.

The mum described workers as “amazing” and said: “The nursery is situated right next to the building that was on fire.

“The blaze was that big, flames were going over the back of the nursery building.

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“They managed to evacuate 80 children in less than one minute and 30 seconds which, as a parent of a child that was there when this happened, I think is absolutely brilliant.

“I personally feel this nursery should be commended for how fast they were at reacting to this blaze, whilst ensuring the children were kept safe and calm and also keeping themselves and their fellow staff members calm during what I can only imagine was a highly, highly stressful and scary situation for them all.”

Yesterday’s blaze destroyed the industrial unit in Cross Bank, Balby with one man taken to hospital following the blaze.

A funding campaign has been launched to restore the factory following the fire after vehicles, tools and equipment were all lost in the inferno.