Eight fire engines were sent to a blaze above a shop on a main road in Burnley.
Crews were called at 9am this morning (Saturday July 30) to an incident in Yorkshire Street, opposite the Royal Dyche pub near Burnley FC's ground, Turf Moor.
People were asked to keep their windows and doors closed and avoid the area as firefighters from Burnley, Colne, Clitheroe, Blackburn, Hyndburn, Nelson, Bacup and Rawtenstall, along with the aerial ladder platform (ALP) from Hyndburn and the drone team, attended a fire in the floor above the Famous Shop, believed to be a flat.
Plumbe Street, Church Street, Oxford Road and Yorkshire Street were closed from around 9.30am, and remained so for the rest of the day, re-opening at around 5.30pm.
An early statement from the fire service read: "We have eight fire engines attending an incident on Yorkshire Street, Burnley.
"If you can see or smell it, please keep windows and doors closed. Please avoid the area."
Updates followed throughout the day as the incident progressed, with the number of engines being reduced first to six, and then to four.
No other properties needed to be evacuated as the fire service were able to quickly contain the flames, before using the ALP to check the fire from the roof above, ensuring there were no hidden hotspots or areas of concern.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported, and no-one was taken to hospital, but it is believed the shop owners were in the premises when the flat above them went up in flames.
Jordan Kirley who works in the Royal Dyche pub across the road, which opens at 12pm on Saturdays said: "I got a message from my boss telling me Yorkshire Street was closed.
"I had to get my taxi to drop me off in town and walk the rest of the way to work as no cars were allowed up the road. I got here just in time to open up.
"I was actually surprised the police and fire crews let us in, there were seven or eight engines here when I arrived. But it's good they still let us open up.
"One of the punters from the pub said the shop was open this morning, but the staff had no idea the fire had started until someone on the street rushed in and told them the floor above had gone up in flames and to get out.
"I think everyone was ok, which is a relief."
Mark Sherman, bar staff at The Turf, next door to the Royal Dyche, said it was lucky Burnley had played their first match of the season away to Huddersfield on Friday night.
He said: "We open at 11am and the police wouldn't let me in at first and the road was blocked so it was hard work to find anywhere to park.
"I reckon if there'd been a home game on today we wouldn't have been able to open and the police would've closed the whole street including the pavements, not just the actual road. So it's lucky Burnley played away last night."
Update at 15:00: SM Chris West provides an incident update. The incident has now been reduced to 4 fire engines with firefighters continuing to monitor, locate and extinguish hot spots.
— Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service (@LancashireFRS) July 30, 2022
Please continue to avoid the area as crews will remain in attendance throughout the afternoon pic.twitter.com/dRcfLsuB6G
A cordon was put in place from the top of Yorkshire Street close to Home Bargains, along to Plumbe Street and down to Todmorden Road, just before Turf Moor.
While the road was blocked to vehicles for most of the afternoon, people were still able to walk on the pavements and access other businesses and properties along Yorkshire Street.
At 3pm, Station Manager Chris West said: "At approximately 9am we were called to a building fire that involved a mid-terraced shop.
"At the height of the incident we had eight fire engines here plus an aerial ladder platform, we have subsequently reduced it to six fire appliances and an aerial ladder platform and we are shortly about to reduce it to four.
"Work is still ongoing to try and identify all the areas that are burning and to extinguish the fire and we're continuing to monitor the incident to try and identify areas of heat and fire and at the moment we are cutting away to try and gain access to those areas.
"The area is likely to be occupied by our resources for the next few hours so we would ask people to avoid the area if possible."
At 5.30pm, all the roads closed because of the incident were re-opened, with fire crews remaining at the scene for precaution.
An investigation will now be carried out to establish the cause of the fire.
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