A CAMPAIGNER has issued a stark warning about the state of a busy road, claiming it will “cost lives” in the wake of a dramatic fire.

Fire crews from around the county attended Haverigg on Saturday morning to tackle a blaze that burned for several hours.

Eight fire crews from across south and west Cumbria went to the Millom area to extinguish the fire at Haverigg Exhaust and Tyre Centre, taking on a lengthy journey along the A595 to get there.

Frank Rewaj, an active member of the A595 Action Group, is calling for more improvements to be made to the road to help the emergency services on their way.

He said: “This is just a prime example of what could go wrong. If something had been coming the other way, like the big trucks you get on there, the fire engine could have been delayed for 20 minutes or more.”

Mike Dobson, Barrow Blue Watch crew manager, agreed that the roads were difficult but said back-up plans are always in place.

He said: “They are country roads and they do get clogged very, very easily.

“The A595 is quite horrendous and there are very few straight bits of road.

“If there was an RTC between Duddon Bridge and High Cross, that road is then closed.

“From a fire engine point of view, these problems don’t occur that often but, if we couldn’t get through, we would contact fire control and send resources from the opposite direction – but that delays the response.”

A fire engine could typically get from Barrow to Millom in 35-40 minutes, but Saturday’s event saw firefighters from Millom at the scene in just six minutes, with help speeding its way across the county.

Despite the heroic work of Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, Mr Rewaj believes upgrading the road is a matter of life and death.

He said: “This incident is just an illustration of what could go wrong. These improvements should have been made years ago, let alone now.

“It only needs to happen once and lives could be lost and people will just have to hang their heads in shame.”