Families moved to temporary homes after Darwen flats blaze

11:50am Sunday 20th July 2008

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RESIDENTS of 10 flats have been put in temporary accomodation following an early morning blaze in their building.

Firefighters were called to Church Terrace, Darwen, at 4.07am today after a shower room in the terraced block caught alight.

Three fire engines attended the scene and residents who had already fled the burning building warned firefighters that there may still be other people inside.

Watch manager Tony Hartley said: "We realised there was serious fire on the first floor. We got to the bottom of the stairs. It was completely smoke logged and we could see flames upstairs.

"Our teams entered using breathing apparatus and systematically forced doors so that we could evacuate the building. Fortunately everyone had already got out."

The fire had managed to spread into the roof and crew spent three hours battling with the flames.

The shower room was wrecked by the fire; seven upstairs rooms were also severely damaged and eight rooms downstairs suffered partial damage.

Mr Hartley added: "We let residents sit in the fire engines to keep warm and they have now been rehoused.

"The premises are not suitable to be used at the moment and an electrician will need to check them out before anyone can go back."

The cause of the fire is still being investigated.