A video has emerged of terrified students fleeing from a blazing block of flats in Manchester City Centre.
The fire broke out Parkway Gate Halls student flats last evening at 10:30 pm and frightened students were evacuated from the 17-storey building.
A video that has emerged on social media shows worried students hurrying each other out as the fire ravaged the building.
Reports say that the fire started in the storeroom of the building and spread quickly to other parts of the building.
Firefighters used thermal imaging scanners to check the spread of the fire and the storeroom in the student accommodation has now been cordoned off.
https://twitter.com/ChrisMeredith10/status/920053797900242944
The emergency services arrived and checked all the students to make sure no-one had inhaled too much smoke.
No injuries are known.
The Manchester Fire Service gives more detail: “When crews arrived an evacuation of the block was underway.
“Six firefighters in breathing apparatus went into the building and discovered a fire in a ground floor store room.
“It was quickly extinguished using two jets and a hose reel.”
North West Fire control received several emergency calls after the fire and smoke were spotted.
The North West Fire control plan on visiting the facility today to investigate why the fire started.
Station Manager Steve Forster, who was in charge of the incident, said: “When the initial crews arrived on the scene they did a great job in tackling the fire using jets and a hose reel and their swift response stopped the fire from spreading.”
Many students who live in the building have taken to Twitter to claim that no fire alarms went off.
We have fire alarm drills at 5am but as soon as there’s a real fire, no alarms go off…we’re paying £150 a week for this! @Unite_Student
— Ben Gibbs (@BenGibbs8) October 17, 2017
Unite Students, who owns the building, gave a statement on the subject matter.
They said: “We take the safety of our residents extremely seriously.
“Our buildings are specifically designed to prevent fires from spreading and these measures ensured that the fire at our Parkway Gate property in Manchester was contained quickly in the storeroom where it started before being dealt with by the fire service.
“Trained Unite staff were on hand to help with the evacuation of the building which was underway without incident before the fire service arrived.
“We can confirm that the alarm system at the property worked as it should have. Safety is our first priority and we have tested all fire alarm systems today and have found them all to be fully functional.
“The cause of the fire is still under investigation and we will provide a further update once the results of that investigation are known.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Greater Manchester Fire Service for their quick response to this incident.”
See a full timeline of the events here.
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