Workers were evacuated from buildings on Blackstock Street in Vauxhall after a fire broke out on a roof terrace in the early hours of Monday, August 3. Thick black smoke billowed over the area, with fire crews at the scene for more than an hour before the blaze was extinguished.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service was alerted to the fire at 2.57am and arrived five minutes later with four fire engines and one aerial appliance. Firefighters found flames on the roof terrace of a two-storey building, approximately 15m by 10m, and all persons were accounted for. Crews then liaised with the building's responsible person and checked neighbouring premises for any sign of spread.
Eyewitness reports
Just before 4am, an eyewitness described the scene to the ECHO: “There’s quite a big fire happening off Vauxhall Road. The fire service are worried about the fire spreading. There's people on the roof, there's thermal drones, they've used a grinder to cut through metal shutters.”
The fire service later confirmed the blaze was extinguished at 4.14am. Two teams of two firefighters wearing breathing masks entered an adjacent building and tackled the fire on a second-floor office space with a hose.
Workers kept outside
All crews were then withdrawn from the affected roof space because of structural damage concerns. When the ECHO arrived at Blackstock Street at 7.25am, a fire alarm was ringing and dozens of workers from different businesses were outside, having been told it was not safe to enter their workplaces.
One woman said: “I live on the next street over. I could see the flames rising this morning. There were big black clouds. I could smell burning too.” The fire alarm eventually stopped ringing and workers were allowed back into the buildings at 7.35am.
