Time and Date: 06/10/2016 16:42

Address: Cocker Street, Blackpool

Incident Number: 1610002217

Press statement:

Initially the call stated that there was fire coming from a building near an alleyway. Two fire crews, one from Blackpool and Bispham attended and when they arrived at the scene requested a further two fire engines to attend as they believed there could have been people trapped inside the property.

The building (approximately 40m by 10m) appeared to house a workshop on the ground floor with domestic accomodation on the second floor and it was believed that the building may have been used for multiple occupancy. The fire involved the ground floor of the building and there was smoke spread throughout the rest of the property. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus were committed to the building in order to carry out search and resuce for anyone who may have been trapped. Due to the nature of the building and potential for trapped casualties the number of fire engines at its peak was 8 in order to achieve the relay of firefighters going inside the property to carry out searches. Thankfully, all persons were safely accounted for and the fire was extinguished using two hose reels.

Several partner agencues were in attendance including the Police, Electricity North West, a representative from the local council, the Salvation Army support van and the Fire Emergency Service Response Vehicle to assist with the incident. As part of firefighting operations the power to the property needed to be isolated and unfortuantely, this resulted in the power needing to be temporarily isolated for the surrounding street. Those occupants that were affected by this powercut were being supported by those volunteer services and it is thought that the power will be restored soon.

At 22:16hrs, the incident was reduced to just one fire engine which is set to remain at the scene over night alongside colleagues from the Police. The cause of the fire is not yet know and an investigation will be set to commence tomorrow morning.