Bolton student accommodation fire witness says cladding 'went up fast'

16 November 2019, 09:13 | Updated: 16 November 2019, 09:21

After a huge blaze erupted at a block of student flats in Bolton LBC spoke to one witness who said the fire "went up fast."

Two people were injured after a huge blaze erupted at a block of student flats in Bolton.

Jason Simpson is a resident who lives behind the Bolton cube student accommodation, he told Andrew Castle the building has cladding outside "similar" to Grenfell Tower.

He said fire brigade officials had previously visited the building to ensure the safety, but even so Friday's fire "went up fast" and "within an hour" the building was engulfed in flames.

Jason said the entire "top half of that building had gone," such was the ferocity of the blaze.

The witness told LBC at times it looked like firefighters were "struggling to keep control of it."

He said works were carried out on the building last year when the panels were taken off and then inspected.

Paramedics treated two people after the fire at The Cube in Greater Manchester, including one person rescued by crews via an aerial platform.

Images posted on social media showed firefighters tackling the blaze on the top floors of a six-storey building on Bradshawgate at around 8.30pm on Friday night.

A Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said more than 40 fire engines were still at the scene on Saturday morning tackling "the last few fighting pockets of fire" in the building, which had been evacuated.