Fire crews are tackling a large blaze "crawling up the cladding" of a building in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
The fire is said to have struck aĀ university student accommodation block.
Police have closed a number of roads around Bradshawgate in the town and have asked people to avoid the area.
Crowds of students have been evacuated from the building. It is not known if there are any injuries.
Images posted on social media show firefighters tackling flames coming out of the windows on the top floors of a building on Bradshawgate.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said 20 fire engines were at the scene and that the building was being evacuated.
One eyewitness described the fire as "crawl[ing] up the cladding like it was nothing".
Ace Love, 35, said: "The fire kept getting more intense, climbing up and to the right because the wind was blowing so hard.
"We could see it bubbling from the outside and then being engulfed from the outside.
"A lot of students got out very fast, someone was very distressed, the rest were on phones calling for help.
"The fire got worse and worse, to the point where you could see through the beams, it was just bare frame."
One student tweeted to say she had to leave her belongings "but the main thing is I'm out and I'm safe".
My Bolton student accommodation is on fire š¢ i am safe just sad that my belongings are in there! But the main thing is Iām out and Iām safe ā¤ļø@MENnewsdesk pic.twitter.com/BmTb3CowgO
ā š¢š±šŖš·š·šøš· ššŖš»š“š®š»š (@Shanparker97) November 15, 2019
One eye-witness has saidĀ students wereĀ tears outside the burning building, believed to be The Cube student accommodation.Ā
GMP Bolton North posted on Facebook: "We are currently dealing with an incident on Bradshawgate and have a number of road closures in place.
"Please avoid the area until further notice."
Incumbent Labour candidate for Bolton South East, Yasmin Qureshi, warned people to stay away from the area and said she would be in contact with the emergency services.
She said on Twitter: "There is an ongoing incident in #Bolton town centre and the emergency services are asking people to stay away from the area for the time being. I will be liaising with the police and fire services to stay informed of developments."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Ā
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience forĀ our loyalĀ readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Ā
That is invaluable.Ā
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalistās job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readersā comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readersā comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the āreport this postā link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel