‘Heroic’ firefighters tackle huge blaze in Manchester apartment block
A huge fire broke out at a 12-storey apartment building in Manchester this afternoon.
The blaze, which started at around 4pm on Saturday, spread over multiple floors in the apartment block on Joiner Street in the city’s Northern Quarter.
Smoke spread to several floors of the building via external wooden balconies.
Images posted on social media showed firefighters battling the huge flames billowing from the building while crowds of people watched on from below.
A 23-year-old was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation but there are not believed to be any other casualties, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said.
At around 6pm, GMFRS tweeted: ‘The fire had spread to multiple floors but we have things well under control here.
‘Firefighters along with colleagues from the Police and Ambulance service have done an amazing job to tackle this difficult incident!’
Residents told of the moment they realised the block was on fire, when they heard neighbours shouting in the hallways and banging on doors.
Megan Baxter, a resident on the second floor of the Lighthouse apartment building, told the Manchester Evening News: ‘I heard a knock on the door, but I thought it was just a postman so I didn’t answer at first.
‘Then I could hear people shouting in the hallway. About five or ten minutes later, next door came and knocked on the door and I answered.
‘He said: “There’s a fire, you need to get out”. I was only in a dressing gown, so I threw some pyjamas on and slippers.
‘I tried to get my hamster out of her cage, but she wouldn’t get out so I had to leave her.
‘I came downstairs and looked up and the sky was covered in smoke, with fire engine. Six or seven fire engines pulled up, there was firemen running everywhere, and about a hundred people in the street.’
She added: ‘It was stressful. I felt awful about leaving my hamster.
Church Street was closed eastbound due to the incident between High Street and Tib Street’s junction with Dale Street.
Witnesses applauded firefighters as they worked to douse the flames, which billowed from the balconies of the apartment block.
Andrew Hirst, who who lives in the Northern Quarter, said crowds could be heard cheering as the fire was extinguished.
‘You could hear the crowd’s cheers as it was going down and you could see the torches from the firemen searching the burned out apartments right next door to the other apartments that were still frighteningly ablaze,’ the 36-year-old said.
The businessman said the firefighters ‘controlled it well’ but described the incident as ‘pretty scary’.
A spokeswoman for the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said resource were sent to the scene as shocking footage showed the spread of the fire.
The eighth floor was damaged by the smoke and floors 10 and 11 were affected externally, the fire service said.
A number of people were evacuated from the building and have been offered temporary accommodation.
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