Dramatic scenes as chimney catches fire

Firefighters were called to a terraced house on Atherton Road in Hindley Green at around 12.30am on Saturday.

They found a crowd of bystanders watching the dramatic scene and carefully removed all the coal causing the blockage before sending water up the inside of the chimney to extinguish the flames.

No-one was hurt in the incident, with the occupants calling the fire brigade after being alerted to the blaze by a passer-by.

The damage was restricted to the inside of the chimney.

Crews from Hindley and Atherton fire stations attended the incident and were at the scene for almost an hour.

Watch manager Neil Watson from Hindley fire station said: “It was just down to a blockage. Sometimes the inside of a chimney can catch fire if there is too much soot and coal.

“When there’s sparks coming out of the chimney pot it looks more impressive than it is, and in this case there was no external damage at all. It did draw a bit of a crowd on the main road.

“It was a fairly straightforward job as far as we were concerned.”