MORE than 100 residents were evacuated from an apartment block in Ancoats, Manchester, after a blaze broke out in a basement car park.
Most were able to get out of the four-storey converted Tobacco building on Naples Street by themselves, but ten others had to be led to safety by fire fighters.
All were given temporary accommodation at Collyhurst police station while emergency services dealt with the incident.
Three people suffered minor injuries. Two were treated at the scene for the effects of smoke, and a third was taken to hospital with an ankle injury.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Fire Service said the blaze involved two cars in the basement car park of the apartment block.
More than 25 firemen were involved in tackling the incident.
The cause is still under investigation.
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100 evacuated after fire
November 06, 2008
Showing comments 1 to 5 and replies | View All
keilo (06/11/2008 at 16:30)
Christopher Wilson (07/11/2008 at 04:25)
I went down to get a better look and saw smoke pouring out from the garage underneath the apartments, I asked what had caused it and believe it was a vehicle but no cause was known. I think it was a firework incident or petrol as the apartment garages have holes on the walls with grills over them obviously to let fumes out.
I was ready to offer my spare room at my apartment for a couple who were short of accomodation but when I returned to my apartment balcony I can only assume the blaze had been delt with and the residents were let back in.
Thats what I knew and saw until I came across this story.
I hope the apartments above were not too damaged by either fire, smoke or water and hope the incident is resolved and if anyone deliberately started the fire, I hope they are caught, prosecuted to the full extent as this could have been devastating.
aen (08/11/2008 at 16:36)
actually, i believe that the residents in that part of the building have not been allowed to return to their flats until after xmas
Chris M (09/11/2008 at 14:12)
We (the residents) have not been able to return to our homes, many of us are either being rehoused or forced to move out. We cannot return to the locked down building except under police escort. The fire itself devastated the carpark, destroyed several cars with smoke damage extending throughout the buildings four floors making most of the apartments uninhabitable.
During the course of the fire not one single firealarm sounded even though they had been manually activated by residents. Had the fire extended into the buildings stairwell there would undoubtedly be severe casualities or even deaths.
A formal investigation will surely follow....
Christopher Wilson (10/11/2008 at 22:46)
As I stated on the Facebook group for the local area, I only know of what I witnessed and from what I had read in this story.
Is it know what caused the fire?