by David Skentelbery
A MAJOR fire has devastated a warehouse and sports store at Warrington during the night.
The blaze, in Knutsford Road, Latchford wrecked the premises of Touchline – built only about two years ago.
Twelve fire engines were involved in a desperate, all night battle to save the building after the fire broke out shortly before 9pm last night.
At the height of the blaze, about 60 firefighters were involved.
Knutsford Road was closed to traffic until 8am today and fire engines were still at the scene as damping down operations continued.
A Fire Service spokesman said: “This has been a major fire. The roof has collapsed and parts of the building are still burning.
“There are terraced houses only about 50 yards behind the property but fortunately the wind was blowing smoke and flames in the opposite direction, across the road and over the Mersey towards Howley Weir.
“It is too early yet to be sure about the cause.”
Touchline supply sports gear and other textiles, trophies, memorabilia, etc and only moved into the newly-built premises about two years ago.
The fire could have a major impact on Warrington Town Football Club, who ordered new strip from the firm and have yet to take delivery of the reserve and youth team kit which are believed to have been in the building.
The first team strip – bearing the logo of new sponsors Warrington Collegiate – has already been used in pre-season friendlies but had been returned to Touchline for laundering and might also have been on the premises.
No-one was hurt in the blaze, but the two-storey building, which also includes the offices of Latchford Community Forum, is virtually destroyed.
8 Comments
Tragic news.
Good luck to everyone connected.
60 firefighters????? talk about over reacting! Do we really have that many spare firemen that we can put 60 on a building that size?
Hmmmm, who do we trust to determine what is a suitable number of firefighters and engines to fight a particular fire? Some internet no-mark called Baz or the fire service themselves?
It obviously wasn’t enough because the place was gutted including the office where I do a bit.
Stan,
why resort to name calling? Do you have a small penis and need to take it out on some one?
I was merely pointing out that based on my knowledge of where the building is and how big it is; 60 firefighters seems an awful lot to send to a building that size. and where exactly would we have gotten 60 firefighters from?
There were fire crews from Warrington, Stockton Heath, Birchwood, Widnes, and Runcorn as well as the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Control Unit and a supporting fire engine from Northwich. Maybe you should contact the fire service and offer them the benefit of your emergency scheduling expertise. Or maybe, as the previous poster has pointed out, you don’t actually have the slightest clue about what you are tediously whinging about.
Stan….
what previous poster pointed all that out?
where do I state that I have emergency scheduling expertise? do you have inside knowledge that hasn’t been reported here? No where above does it tell us about all of the different stations involved so how am I to know? FYI I wasn’t whinging, I am asking why it took 60 people to put out what seems to me, as a layman, like a small building fire. The surrounding area wasn’t evacuated (at least according to the reports above) so I was looking for enlightenment as to why so many were involved.
You are obviously someone who possibly works for the fire brigade so why not just impart your news rather than resort to petty snipes?
“A small building fire” perhaps, but the contents of the building must have been pretty volatile for the size of turnout!
My thoughts are with everyone concerned and I hope the business makes a swift recovery.