At 1.40 p.m. this afternoon (26th December 2022), six fire engines from Blackpool, South Shore, Bispham, Lytham, St Anne’s and Fleetwood were called to deal with a fire which has ignited on a commercial property on Church Street. Blackpool.

Firefighters who rushed to the Boxing Day town centre incident wore breathing apparatus and employed a range of reel jets and hose reels to battle the fire.

At 3.00 p.m. this afternoon eight fire engines were in attendance and the fire fighters using aerial ladder platform from Blackpool could be seen battling the blaze. The area was cleared and Lancashire Police and other partners were involved in a multi-agency response to the incident. A drone was used to access and monitor the incident from above.

At 4, 45 p.m. the incident was still attended 4 fire engines and the aerial ladder platform. As a consequence of the fire, a partial building collapse occurred and emergency services could be seen working with multi-agency partners to make the area safe.

This evening, police continue to ask for the public to continue to avoid the area and would like to thank everyone for your co-operation and understanding during a very difficult day.

Photograph below from Kian King/Facebook