JANUARY THE new year was ushered in by a major flu epidemic, following on from the festive period, which put emergency services, hospitals and GP practices under a huge strain.

Parents were also put on a meningitis red alert, after 10 suspected cases of the deadly bug were reported over the same period.

A crow trapped in the roof guttering of a Blackburn store for three days caused part of the town centre to be sealed off when firemen made a rescue operation.

Meanwhile, 20 fire crews battled to prevent toxic fumes spreading over Simonstone during a huge blaze at Philip's Components, which saw flames leap 40ft into the air.

In Rossendale, a spate of mill fires cost businesses more than £12m, a fire investigator revealed.

Police hit squads carried out a series of dawn raids across Blackburn as part of a major operation aimed at drug dealers and burglars.

Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Blackburn and praised schools which, he said, had "led the way for the whole country".

Mechanic Jason Chadwick ran a gauntlet of flames to escape a blaze and explosion in a workshop fire at Simpsons Garage in Burnley.

The Mayor of Hyndburn Ian Ormerod faced an evening behind bars when he was locked up by police as part of the first National Lay Visitors Awareness Day,

Security officers were introduced in the accident and emergency department at Burnley General Hospital to reduce violence against staff.

Schoolboy Adam Ashworth was hauled to safety after sinking to his waist in a muddy lodge, while taking a short cut home in Accrington.

A £6.7m investment, bringing more than 100 new jobs, was unveiled in Darwen.

The opening of Canadian-owned Global Group's new European headquarters was seen as a major vote of confidence in East Lancashire's manufacturing industry.

A dog 'with a taste for blood', savaged and killed at least 11 sheep on a Pendle farm.

Home Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw kick started a huge fund-raising drive to convert the East Lancashire Hospice into a centre of excellence, costing £1.3m. FEBRUARY TODDLER Dylan Summer was dropped from the first floor of a burning house in Pine Street, Nelson, into a blanket by his babysitter, after a fire broke out.

A delegation of MPs, council bosses and industrialists from East Lancashire headed for the House of Commons to call for millions of pounds of help for local industry, battered by heavy job losses.

Outraged licensees were on collision course with Home Secretary Jack Straw over plans to 'name and shame' pubs with a history of drink-fuelled violence.

Around 170 workers at Buoyant Upholstery, Nelson, were told they had lost their jobs and a race began to save the remaining 280.

A lorry driver was tied up and dumped in a lay-by at Bull Hill, Darwen, after robbers hijacked his vehicle and stole a £20,000 load of Easter eggs.

A man armed with an axe launched a prolonged road rage attack on a van at junction 10 of the M65 in Burnley before escaping.

Christians and Muslims joined forced in a partnership to tackle the menace of drugs, when a conference, which was also attended by Jack Straw, took place in Blackburn.

Pensioner Thelma Isherwood was viciously assaulted and "left for dead" after she confronted a thief in her Clitheroe home.

Little Charlie Anne caused a big surprise when she was born on the stairs at her Darwen home - teenage mum Katherine Green though she had indigestion,

Highway chiefs helped barn owls to keep nesting when they cut noise on the M65, by laying a new, quieter surface in a £2.6m maintenance scheme between Accrington and Burnley.

Fifty years of manufacturing at Karrimor's Clayton-le-Moors warehousing operation came to end with the news that its new South African owners was axing production and cutting around 80 jobs. MARCH BURNLEY'S empty council house problems hit the national spotlight when it was revealed the town had the highest percentage of vacant homes in the country.

Residents in Hodder Bridge Court, Chaigley, were evacuated when a car park broke up and slid 40ft into the river.

Brother and sister Jason and Jenny Ashworth, of Oswaldtwistle, broke the same bone in the same arm at the same time on the same day, just a fortnight apart.

Union chiefs from Blackburn with Darwen Council were considering industrial action after a 'bullying and threatening' attack on working conditions. More than 200 council employees gathered outside the town hall to condemn a decision which, they said, meant more hours for less overtime pay, having to pay for car parking and the loss of five days holiday a year.

Coach passengers on a mystery weekend were given an extra surprise when driver David Howarth of Rawtenstall stopped at Gretna Green to marry girlfriend Laura Anderton of Rossendale.

Motorists were hit by traffic chaos after a 15ft lorry became stuck under a 14ft 9in railway bridge in Whalley New Road, Blackburn. Driver Steve Boice of Bristol said: "I never want to come to the town again."

A near £12m plan to extend Burnley town centre and create more than 170 new jobs was unveiled by town hall bosses.

Families in Britten Street, Darwen, were evacuated as a 'time bomb' ticked away beneath them, as petrol leaked from a parked car into a cellar. Fumes reached an explosive level and firefighters spent more than five hours swilling it away and attempting to ventilate homes.

Jeweller Mohammed Tony Karim and his wife Bilquis, from Blackburn, were found dead after a raid on their shop in Preston.

Ten members of a Blackburn family, who operated Britain's biggest fraud factory, by faking car crashes and serious injuries, were found guilty of conspiracy to steal £3m. Mohammed Sharif, his children and relatives, were trapped by a police inquiry, codenamed Operation Ocarina, after six years of large scale fraud.

Parents were asking serious questions after toxic anhydrous caffeine was dumped in a back street in Burnley and left for two weeks, putting a dozen children in hospital for 48 hours.

A tandoori takeaway in Wesley Street, Blackburn, collapsed, following building work in the cellar, leaving dozens of homes without gas or electricity.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.