Cars and garage destroyed by blaze

The blaze started in a double garage attached to an annex at the front and side of a house in Swinley at around 6.45pm on Saturday December 3.

The vehicles were so badly damaged the fire crews could not even tell what make they were and the garage at the Trafalgar Road property will also require demolition after the roof was destroyed.

Crews from Wigan, Hindley and Atherton fire stations all tackled the blaze and a fire engine from Skelmersdale was also initially sent to the scene.

The firefighters managed to bring the flames under control and prevent them spreading beyond the garage and isolated the electricity but then had to wait for a building inspector to visit.

The property owner told crews he had parked one of the cars in the garage and gone inside the house but then a neighbour had come running to the door to say there was smoke visible.

He tried to open the door and found the cars and garage both well alight.

No-one was hurt in the incident.

Neighbour Vicki Gregson said: “It was all quite dramatic for a Saturday night. I got home, parked my car and saw a lot of smoke. My husband and I looked around and it was billowing out from the side.

“My husband phoned the fire service and then everyone came out to have a look. The guy came out and tried to open the garage doors and we shouted at him not to, and then about a minute and a half later it went up like a Christmas tree.”

Crew manager Martin Pike from Wigan fire station said: “We were trying to sort the roof out because it was quite dangerous. The beams had come away from the walls so we couldn’t get in as easily as we would have liked.

“Everything in the garage was just totally burnt through. The garage itself is going to have to be demolished too because there’s little remaining of the roof.

The fire service did not leave the scene until around 10.30pm.