'Deliberate' blaze breaks out at derelict council building

A derelict council building has been left heavily damaged after a blaze which fire crews believe was started deliberately.
Fire at the old Hindley libraryFire at the old Hindley library
Fire at the old Hindley library

And the culprits used fly-tipped materials to ignite the flames, it was also revealed.

Three engines and 15 firefighters from Hindley station were called to reports of a fire at the premises in Liverpool Road, Hindley, at approximately 10.50pm yesterday (Sunday, October 15).

Crews spent around 90 minutes tackling the fire.

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Watch manager Mark Anderson reported that one of the rooms was completely destroyed by the fire, and that a lot of the roof space suffered significant damage.

"The structure was in such a poor state of disrepair that the walls were already falling down. It is in a bad way, it's quite a dangerous place," he said.

Mark also revealed that all signs pointed to the fire being ignited on purpose, most likely by youths.

He said: "We do know that the local homeless population use the building on occasion, but there were no signs of any recent occupation. It appears to have been empty for quite some time.

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"I believe it was deliberately started. The assumption is that it is probably youths who have started it. That ground is used to fly-tip. It appears materials that have been fly-tipped were put into the room and set on fire."