Miller horror as Maple melts

Scene of the massive blaze after darkness had fallen

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Kitchen trader can only look on as inferno engulfs Hathershaw mill and giant 60ft flames destroy his business

Pictures by DARREN ROBINSON, VINCENT BROWN and Chronicle readers

ROGUE kitchen trader Vance Miller watched in horror last night (Tuesday) as an inferno destroyed his business.

More than 130 workers fled to safety as a diesel generator and propane gas cylinders exploded, rocking the six-storey Maple Mill No 2 on Cardwell Street, Hathershaw.

Flames shot 60 feet above the building as police and council officials evacuated 28 nearby homes. A hundred firefighters used 18 fire engines and three aerial machines, fighting for more than five hours to bring the blaze under control.

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Maple Mill collapses on video

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The huge pall of choking black smoke could be still be seen this morning ten miles away.

Firefighters expect to be at the mill, which contained kitchen fittings, machinery and vehicles, for three to four days.

Only one wall is still standing and the whole building will have to come down.

Several hours after the fire started at 5.18pm, the front of the mill, measuring 60 x 40 metres, collapsed into Dowry Street, and there were more collapses overnight.

An investigation was immediately launched into the cause of the fire, but there were no injuries.

Greater Manchester Fire Service spokesman Paul Duggan said there were reports that the fire started in an area around a diesel generator at the back of the building. The fire then spread to wooden pallets and propane gas cylinders which began to explode in the heat.

Residents in Dowry Street, Cardwell Street, Groby Street, Wildbrook Crescent and Lichens Crescent were evacuated as a precaution. Fire crews had to hose down homes on Cardwell Street and Dowry Street where window frames were melting in the searing heat from the fire.

Fire crews pumped water from the boating lake at Alexandra Park.

Police cordoned off Edith Street, Urmson Street, Groby Street, Dowry Street and Cardwell Street. Sixteen people spent the night at Hathershaw School, and many more went to friends and family.

The mill is occupied by several firms, but the bulk of the space is used by Vance Miller for producing kitchen units.

Peter Warren from Arran Avenue was in his garden when he heard a series of loud bangs. He said: “There was thick black smoke and then this big piece of debris came flying over the mill tower.

“You could hear sirens coming from all over then the police helicopter came.”

Nikky Finnegan (16) who was near the mill with friends when the first explosion happened said: “Something blew about 50 yards away and then we heard explosions and I ran away with my little cousin.

“People heard it at Coal Pit Lane and Park Bridge.

“There were 20 canisters near the generator and we heard it had been running too long and got too hot.”

A shaken Sarah Senior and her two children were evacuated from their Cardwell Close home which backed onto the blazing mill.

She spent hours on the street corner before being allowed back in briefly to collect clothes and belongings, and then went to stay with family.

Her children were in tears as she described their horror: “I was in the kitchen making tea when I heard the explosion and the house was shaking. Police came and told us we had got to get out.

“Elderly residents from the bungalows were taken away by ambulances. The fear is that the mill chimney will come down because of the heat.”

Another resident said: “It is just like the blitz. the whole building is blazing.”

Andrea Smith of Bute Avenue said: “We were eating tea and there was this incredible explosion. We didn’t know what it was and then there were six or seven more.”

This morning more road closures were added in Kings Road and Keswick Road because of the pipes laid by firemen from Alexandra Park, and other closures were expected after the rush hour as fire fighters, council workers and police assess the situation.

Oldham Council’s emergency plan was put in place and ten officers were on site, plus social services and school staff, but it is not known when residents will get back home.

This morning Kitchens staff turned up for work to find there were still nine fire engines and 50 fire fighters at the mill, which was built in 1923.

Residents have been told to keep all doors and windows closed because of smoke and fumes.

Fire Service group commander Billy Myers said: “It was very spectacular but very sad as well. There was nothing we could do to stop it spreading through the six storeys of the mill.”


Miller’s chequered past

In April, 2002, Vance Miller (pictured) became the first UK trader to be handed a “Stop Now” court order to cease supplying substandard goods.

Then trading as Maple Industries, Miller, of Ramsbottom, was jailed for five months in 2003 after flouting the ban 13 times. His sentence was reduced on appeal to five weeks.

In 2005, he was banned from running a business for the following nine years after he was taken to the High Court by the Insolvency Service. Mr Miller was also stopped from selling hundreds of mini-motos and quad bikes which were seized in a raid in November 2006, having failed safety regulations. He has previously featured on the BBC’s “Watchdog” and “Rogue Traders”.