ROADS CLOSED AS FIRE RIPS THROUGH MORECAMBE FACTORY
MORE than 100 people were evacuated in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday as fire ripped through a Westgate factory.
Around 80 firefighters from across the county have been tackling the blaze at the Two Sisters chicken processing plant(formerly Gotts) which has been devastated by the fire.
The alarm was raised by the security guard at 2.30am this morning and the Morecambe crew based just yards away from the scene were first to arrive.
Watch manager, Steve Darby said: "We go to this factory quite a few times for false alarms so expected this to be another one but when we got there the guard was quite agitated.
When we opened the doors to the corridor we had to back off and get out. There was a bit of an explosion and a huge amount of smoke coming from the roof."
Mr Darby immediately activated the emergency plan Operation Merlin.
Police led the evacuation of around 150 people from Deanpoint and announcements were made via the police helicopter to other nearby residents to keep their doors and wondows closed.
Most of the White Lund Industrial Estate and surrounding roads were closed to traffic.
Almost twenty applicances from throughout the county were called to the scene and all the county's three aerial ladders were in use.
Film taken from the police helicopter and relayed back to headquarters also helped give an overview of the scene.
Firefighters remained at the factory throughout Monday and specialist fire investigators were called in.
Initital thoughts are that the fire began in the plant room.
There were no factory workers on shift at the time of the fire and the extent of the damage is such that it is unlikely to re-open soon.
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Weather for Lancaster
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
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