Six fire crews were sent to extinguish a blaze at a derelict building on Saturday.
Images sent to the Lancashire Telegraph, and from the emergency services, show the devastation of the fire, and the hard work crews carried out to bring it under control.
The historic building, the Grade-II listed Hargreaves Warehouse in Blackburn Road, Church, will now be demolished.
Known locally as 'The Wharf', the premises has been derelict for some time, but was once a historic canalside warehouse.
It is thought the fire was exacerbated by the presence of gas fumes, with crews needing to wait overnight until Cadent could attend on Sunday morning to isolate the mains.
Resident Marcus Rawcliffe-Pollard said on Saturday: "Tonight firefighters are still attending the scene of the devastating fire at the grade II listed Hargreaves Warehouse in Church.
"The building, also known as 'The 'Wharf' is a historic canalside building and unfortunately has remained in a derelict state for quite some time.
"Its fate has now been sealed and its awaits demolition over the next few days."
Fire crews battled throughout the night and into the afternoon on Sunday, using an aerial ladder platform to fight the fire from above, a water bowser to allow for larger quantities of water to be sprayed onto the flames, and ground monitors to tackle the incident from the external peripheries.
Tonight we have been assisting crews at a large fire involving a derelict building in Accrington. We were able to identify how effective the water jets were applying water onto the fire. We also identified a burning gas pipe within the building, can you spot it? @LancashireFRS pic.twitter.com/Q6J8zk3nFn
— LFRS Drone (@LfrsDrone) August 20, 2022
The fire is believed to have started on the first floor of the building and was well alight when crews arrived at 4.50pm on Saturday.
Road closures were put in place in Blackburn Road, Bridge Street and Market Street, and remained in place until the attendance was reduced to two fire engines.
Here’s an update on the Blackburn Road fire from Incident Commander Rob Harvey. The number of fire engines at the scene will be reduced shortly, but firefighters will be working throughout the night to make the site safe. pic.twitter.com/QnGqVn8i6W
— Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service (@LancashireFRS) August 20, 2022
Closures in Blackburn Road and Bridge Street remained until Sunday afternoon.
At 11am on Sunday, Cadent Gas attended to isolate the gas mains supply, which then allowed for firefighters to extinguish the remaining areas of ignition, caused by leaking fumes.
By 12pm on Sunday the fire from the gas supply had been extinguished with crews looking for hotspots to ensure the flames were completely out.
Responsibility for the site was handed over to the police around 1.20pm on Sunday with fire crews expected to return today, Monday, for further checks.
Blackburn Road was re-opened on Sunday night, but there is still no access via Bridge Street, which will remain closed awaiting demolition of the building.
A multi-agency fire investigation is now underway.
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