WOODSTOCK Road in Witney has now reopened after the earlier building fire.
The police and fire service were called to a derelict garage on fire between Early Road and Jubilee Way at 3.30am.
Gas cylinders were found and the fire service said crews were trying to cool them down.
Incident Commander Paul Bremble said it was a "significant" fire but that the timing had helped. He said if the cylinders had exploded they were looking at a blast radius of 200 metres.
A neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said: "It was horrendous, really horrendous. The whole sky and the road lit up and there was smoke everywhere."
Bramble Bank and Campion Way were also closed for part of the morning.
Thames Valley police spokeswoman Hannah Williams said they were called to assist the fire service with road closures at the scene at 3.20am but officers had since left the scene.
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