Emergency services have been battling a major fire in the historic headquarters of the Co-operative Wholesale Society that has brought part of Manchester city centre to a standstill.
Members of the public were urged to avoid the area near Victoria railway station on Monday evening after the fire broke out at the former CWS building.
Eight engines from Greater Manchester Fire Service were involved in tackling the blaze after firefighters were called shortly after 5pm.
A drone that was recently purchased by the fire service was deployed as part of the operation, to fly over the scene and pick up on heatspots, transmitting images to the ground.
Fire in Manchester City centre still burning as the sun sets tonight. pic.twitter.com/C5K1ZrmBzE
— Key 103 News (@KEY103NEWS) October 12, 2015
It was not clear whether there had been any injuries. However, the developers of Noma, a redevelopment scheme in the area of the fire, tweeted that the CWS building was vacant.
The £800m project aims to transform an 8-hectare mixed-use site with new housing, offices, entertainment premises and shops.
The fire appeared to be confined to the roof of the five-storey high building, which firefighters used a “cherry-picker” platform to reach.
A firefighter who was among the first to go up told the Manchester Evening News: “When I got to the top, all I saw was a wall of flame, I couldn’t go into it. I had to go at it from the side.
“The roof is completely gone. It is burned and badly damaged,” he said.
The fire service announced at 8pm that the incident had been a challenging one but that it would soon be scaling down the operation.
Images of the thick black plumes of smoke over the city skyline were posted on social media.
Members of the public also tweeted footage of the fire earlier in the evening.
The whole CWS roof in #manchester is on fire.... pic.twitter.com/m3zc9CBg5j
— Ian V (@ianvallie) October 12, 2015
