Collapse fears as city office building blazes

Flames engulfed all floors of the five-storey commercial building in Dale Street, Manchester, as more than 50 firefighters and eight fire engines attended the scene.

There were unconfirmed reports of several people sleeping rough in the building but no indication of any casualties.

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A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester fire service said: "Fire officers were called to the scene at 5.55am and were met by a well established fire involving all the floors of the building.

"The building is entirely surrounded by emergency scaffolding and there is a real risk of collapse."

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Firefighters were dousing the scaffolded building with a water jet to allay billows of smoke surrounding the site.

The embers of the blaze spread across to another office building on the opposite side of the street and firefighters were also attempting to contain similar smoke damage.

The fire service said it was working to protect adjacent buildings from the radiating heat.

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It was understood that a number of people may have been sleeping rough in the scaffolded building, which is undergoing renovation, but there were no reports of any casualties.

The scene, near the busy Piccadilly shopping area, was cordoned off.

A Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service spokesman said they were unable to confirm if anyone was in the building, which was on the verge of collapse, as it was "too unsafe" to go inside.

The spokesman said: "The whole area has been cordoned off to protect members of the public. "The building itself is all but collapsed and burnt away.

"There is concern that people may have been sleeping rough there but I can't confirm that as it is too unsafe to go inside.

"Unfortunately the fire spread to the other side of Dale Street, at the junction of Little Lever Street, to another five-storey building where the fire has established and involves the upper floors and roof.

"It is too early to say what the cause was. "We have commenced an initial fire investigation but it will be some time before we can establish the cause."

The second building is said to contain a number of commercial businesses.

No-one was believed to have been on the site when the blaze was triggered.

David Lembergh, 38, who has work premises in the building and also lives in an adjacent residential suite, said he had a "lucky escape".

He said: "Fortunately I stopped at my mother's house in Prestwich last night.

"I got a call at about 6.15am from a friend who said 'Did you get out OK?'

"Obviously I had a very lucky escape and it's fortunate that the building caught fire when it did because if it had started in the middle of the night then I am sure we would have lost the whole building."

Later, more than 100 firefighters were at the scene, together with 20 fire engines, police and paramedics.