DRIVERS who left their cars parked on both sides of a Blackburn cul-de-sac have been criticised after firefighters had to walk to a blaze nearby.

Two engines were called to an empty house in Swallowfields, Pleckgate, at around 6.50pm on Friday but were delayed after parked cars left the road blocked to emergency vehicles.

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Watch manager David Shaw said: “It meant fire crews had to carry equipment for 150 metres to get to the fire.

“Had this been an incident where people were trapped in the fire, this could have had very serious consequences.

“We ask that, when people park a vehicle, they ensure emergency vehicles can still get access.”

The fire was ‘serious and established’ by the time firefighters reached the scene and, due to the amount of smoke, it was not possible for crews to find the flames without thermal imaging cameras.

Watch manager Shaw said: “The fire had been burning for some time and due to the property being vacant it allowed the fire to develop.

“The fire was quickly extinguished preventing further fire damage to the rest of the property. It is believed that the cause of the fire is an overheating fridge motor.”

One resident defended her neighbours, saying there were no parking restrictions.

She said: “People park here because they live here. I don’t think anybody thought parking their car would block a fire engine. If they can’t get down here maybe they need to put double yellow lines in, but then where would people park?

“I just don’t think this was a problem people envisaged when they parked up, but it might be now something like this has happened.”

Labour Cllr Ron Whittle, who represents Roe Lee, said he and fellow ward councillors would raise the issue with Capita, the borough’s services partner.

He said: “It is terrible to hear about the fire service finding themselves in a situation such as this. Myself, Phil Riley and Sylvia Liddle will go up there with Capita to see if there us anything we can do.”