Main Wigan road closed after blaze breaks out in garage

A crew from Wigan was called to an address on Ormskirk Road, Pemberton, at 11.45am on Sunday June 26 to find the outbuilding with a car inside on fire.

Firefighters say the flames had spread to another garage next to it and also the fence of the adjoining car wash.

However a Wigan Today reader said that the cause was rubbish being burnt at the car wash and the flames were whipped up by the high winds and spread to the garages.

Tackling the incident was made more difficult because the car inside the structure was up on a ramp similar to those found in petrol stations.

Crew manager Steve Waygood said: “It was a tricky and messy job in several respects and we had to close Ormrkirk Road for a time.

"The car – which was so badly damaged that we’ve no idea what kind it is – being up on the ramp made things particularly difficult.

"I wasn’t going to deploy people underneath it.”

It was safe for the crew to leave the scene at about 2pm by which time the road had been reopened.

Mr Waygood said that the cause of the fire was still to be determined but it looked accidental rather than there being any foul play involved.