Vehicles destroyed in suspicious fire

Firefighters were called to Clearway Drainage’s unit on the Leigh Trading Estate at around 7.45pn on Monday.

They found three large goods vehicles well alight in the centre of the yard and firefighters wearing breathing apparatus tackled the flames.

The dramatic incident sparked several calls to the emergency services from concerned residents as the flames could be seen from Warrington Road and smoke poured into the evening sky.

Firefighters from Leigh, Atherton and Hindley stations fought the blaze and managed to prevent it spreading beyond the three vehicles, all of which were written off.

Their task was made more difficult as one truck had a huge tank full of diesel in the back and another had a container for storing resin.

The crews took almost two hours to fully put out the flames.

Crew manager Kane Partington from Leigh fire station said: “When we got there the middle one was well alight and that had spread to the one on either side of it.

“We managed to contain the spread of the fire by cooling the vehicles around them.

“The extent of the fire meant it took a long time to put out, we had to take our time.”

The blaze is being treated as suspicious and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have been informed.