Firefighters' faces turned as red as their engines when a blaze destroyed their fire station - which they later revealed had no smoke alarms fitted.

Paramedics who share the station in Arundel turned up yesterday morning to find smoke belching from the building.

A spokesman for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said the building sustained 90 per cent damage and a fire engine was also destroyed but nobody was injured.

He said: "The fire station included a bay, a recreation room and an office and kitchenette. It has been badly damaged."

About 100 residents in neighbouring homes were evacuated after the retained Arundel fire station was engulfed in the fireball thought to have started through an electrical fault in the area where fire engines are parked.

Investigators later discovered no fire or smoke alarms were fitted in the station. West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service was left embarrassed by the lack of alarms, despite its own long-running campaign to install smoke detectors free inside every house in the county.

A spokesman said: "Obviously from a PR point of view it's a disaster. When we rebuild the fire station we will make sure they are fitted. All we can say at the moment is it's very regrettable.

"A fire alarm system is designed to save lives, whereas this building was unoccupied most of the time."

He said it was unlikely a smoke alarm would have prevented the fire or lessened the damage.

Temporary fire cover is being arranged for the Arundel area while the station remains out of service.

Ambulance technician Anne Myhill, who was alone inside the building, raised the alarm and managed to escape as three pressurised gas cannisters, understood to be oxygen, exploded, sending 20ft high flames, debris and thick plumes of smoke reaching through the roof.

Within minutes more than 50 firefighters from Bognor, East Preston, Chichester, Worthing and Littlehampton were on the scene but were unable to stop more than £500,000 damage to the station and the loss of a fire engine, worth an estimated £100,000.

The Health and Safety Executive last night said it could investigate why no alarms were installed and look into the cause of the fire.

The blaze started at about 11am and soon afterwards roads around the fire station were packed with evacuees from surrounding houses.

Joe Marshall, a paramedic who was passing the fire station, joined Mrs Myhill, who is based at Bognor Ambulance Station and helped set up an exclusion zone.

Joy Edmonds 62, who lives 200 metres further up Ford Road said: "The whole house shook when the explosions happened. I just made sure the grandkids were okay and hoped for the best."

Josephine Stenson, 47, said: "When I first saw it, it was like 9/11 in New York. It looked horrific."

Her father, a retired GP from the nearby Arundel Surgery, was one of the first on the scene. She said: "My father rushed down here to make sure he did what he could for anyone who was injured but luckily nobody was hurt."

Jon Thomson, 40, a self-employed builder from Ford Road, said: "Thick, acrid smoke filled the road.

"There were three or four almighty explosions. It blew all the windows out and glass flew across the road."

It is understood Arundel town's main Christmas lights, bought by the Rotary Club, were being stored in the fire station and were also completely destroyed.

Neil Odin, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Area Commander, said: "We were not particularly concerned about the residents being affected by the fire because that was brought under control fairly quickly but we were very concerned about them breathing the thick smoke coming out of there."

A portable building and a replacement engine were taken to Arundel last night.