FIREFIGHTERS have battled through the night to control a suspected arson attack in Ewood.

Two crews were called to a building site off Bolton Road shortly before midnight after more than 50 tonnes of waste was set alight.

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Watch manager Rob Birtwistle said he believed the fire was started deliberately.

Firefighters initially stayed at the scene, near the entrance to the Ewood travellers’ site, for more than three hours as they fought to extinguish the flames.

Crews were then forced to return to the site twice more in the morning as the fire threatened to spread further.

Mr Birtwistle said the scale of the blaze made it difficult for his team to fully extinguish the flames.

He said: “With the amount of waste that is there, it is going to take a JCB to come and lift a lot of material out of the way.

“It is an old, demolished, factory site and the majority of the waste there is wood but there are other materials.

“We used six firefighters with breathing apparatus and three jets to put it out. I am assuming it was started deliberately.

“We did have difficulty accessing the site and the sheer amount of waste was a problem.”

Lancashire police said they had not been informed about the incident, while Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said it continued to monitor the situation this morning.

Mr Birtwistle said: “There was nobody at the site when we arrived but there was a telephone number for emergencies and we have been in touch with a security guard.

“Hopefully there should be someone down this morning to assist us. The smoke was quite acrid and thick, hence the need for breathing apparatus.

“There is no structural building left so there is no damage in that respect, but you have to think of the damage the waste will do to the environment, and the employment of engines which could be needed elsewhere in Blackburn.

“The reason we had to come back twice is that we couldn’t physically reach any more areas and I wasn’t prepared to take an engine out of action for any longer.”