More than100 people were evacuated from their homes after fears that a gas cylinder would explode.
A metal sculptor ran into Newhaven Fire Station in Fort Road last night to report problems with an acetylene torch.
He was working on a piece of art at the nearby Hill Crest Centre in Hill Crest Road, Newhaven.
Police set up a 200-metre exclusion zone at about 7pm and evacuated homes in Hill Crest Road, Bay Vue Hill and Brookes Close.
About 100 people assembled a safe distance away at Grays School.
Newhaven fire crews received advice from a British Oxygen expert via a mobile phone and took the cylinder into an old war-time bomb shelter in the Hill Crest centre.
They cooled the cylinder with water and residents were allowed back into their homes after 90 minutes.
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