Haigh Hall basement fills with smoke after water leaks causes fuse box burn-out

The premises, which are undergoing a multi-million-pound makeover, were evacuated at shortly before 8am on Tuesday July 4 while two crews from Wigan and one from Horwich tackled the incident, wearing breathing gear.

Wigan watch manager Paul Gibbons said that water had seeped into the large basement from trenches currently being dug around the building’s perimeter and this caused the electrical consumer unit to blow and start smoking.

He added: “There was no fire as such but it did create a lot of smoke and, with the size of the basement it took quite a long time to ventilate, using positive pressure fans. A dry powder extinguisher was used on the unit.

After about 90 minutes the crews were stood down, leaving it to Electricity North West staff to make the unit safe.

Mr Gibbsons said damage was restricted to the unit itself.