The High Wycombe Arts Centre admitted that preparations for a three-day music festival were ‘chaotic’ after a huge fire devastated a section of the town.

Just before 6 am on Sunday, May 3, half a dozen firefighting crews rushed to Desborough Road and Lansdales Road after a car garage was impacted by the blaze on the latter street.

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The inferno soon spread to neighbouring garages as well as other businesses which included betting shop, a barbershop and a bakery which was due to open in the middle of May.

The fire crews, along with the help of Thames Valley Police, cordoned off the area for roughly 12 hours as an investigation opened.

Businesses that were not impacted by the fire were not allowed to open due to safety concerns, while residents were forced to evacuate their homes.

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One venue that did open was the Wycombe Arts Centre, who were hosting a three-day rock and metal festival, Phoenix Fest.

Bands from as far as Brighton and Chelmsford were due to perform on the same day as the fire, with there being concerns the event was due to be cancelled.

Speaking to the Free Press, one of the event organisers said: “The corner of the crime scene was outside the venue, so it was really hard for people to trave.

“It was all just a bit of a nightmare.

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We spent the day here and it was manic as we were trying to deal with telling everybody new directions, and sorting out new directions on where to park and due to the fire, we had no footfall because no one was walking past.

“It was just way too chaotic than what we'd like it to be, but the event was still really good, but we definitely did feel the effects of the inaccessibility that we had.

“However, they [the police and the fire department]  did appear that they were doing a brilliant job of containing it.”

Following the incident, Thames Valley Police arrested a 43-year-old man from Beaconsfield "on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life".

He was placed in police custody, but has been released on conditional bail while their  investigation continues.”

READ MORE: Firefighters battle town centre blaze - as it happened

The force also added that the one of the garages on Desborough Road was "severely damaged" by the fire, with a number of neighbouring businesses and residential properties also affected by fire and smoke.

A member of staff from the arts centre said: “The event was over three stages with 73 artists and it was pretty wild.

“We had to either try and find a way to risk assess coming from the back if we were allowed to go.

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But we did confirm that we were able to go ahead and create a constant dialogue.

“There was constant communication with them on the in case, because obviously the initial fear was, you know, is it going to be fumes and stuff like that, and people can't even be here.”