Up to 40 firefighters tackle Oldham blaze

Date published: 04 March 2020

Firefighters have been working through the night to tackle a blaze at a former church in Oldham.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were called to Regent Street at 9.11pm last night (3rd March).

Six fire engines and an aerial platform attended to tackle to 15m by 30m blaze.

They used handheld jets and the aerial platform to put water on the fire from above. 

At the time of the blaze Station Manager Nicholas Griffin said: “Our crews are working extremely hard to extinguish this fire and are expected to remain at the incident for a number of hours.

“I’d like to praise crews for their swift response to incident and containing the fire, which is now very unlikely to spread to other buildings.

“We are urging local residents to avoid the area and to keep windows and doors shut if they live nearby.”

There is currently a safety cordon in place at Regent Street and Beech Street which has caused traffic problems this morning, but it doesn't have an impact on the Metrolink services. 

Operations have since been scaled down to one fire engine and an aerial appliance. 

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