Location: Rainhill, St Helens
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service are in attendance at an incident on Rainhill Road, Rainhill, St Helens.
Crews were alerted at 17.25 and three fire engines were on scene at 17.34. At the height of the incident a total of 6 fire engines and an aerial appliance were at scene for water and personnel.
On arrival crews were met with a derelict two storey building, approximately 50 by 30 metres, the first floor and roof were fully involved in fire.
Firefighters utilised one hose reel jet and two main branches, and compressed air foam system (CAFS) was used on the first floor.
The incident has been sectorised, one main jet and one hose reel jet are in use. Water relay has been set up and Merseyside Police are in attendance to assist with cordon and traffic management.
Utilities to the property have been isolated, and the aerial appliance is in use. Crews are making good progress to tackle the blaze and as a result, this incident has been scaled down to four fire engines at scene.
UPDATE 21.10
This incident has now been scaled down to three fire engines, two hose reel jets and the aerial appliance are in use.
UPDATE 11.30 – 03/05/23
Firefighting operations continued overnight with crews utilising two high pressure hose reels and one aerial appliance to dampen down and hotspot the building.
Relief crews were brought in through the night and fire service personnel continued monitoring temperatures and dampening down the scene.
At 06.45am on the morning of Wednesday 3rd May, hotspotting and damping down activities ceased, and the fire was extinguished. The scene was handed over to Merseyside Police and a joint investigation is underway into the cause.