Huge fire rips through Leyland business park

Firefighters tackling a massive blaze at a business park in Lancashire are expected to be at the scene through the night, the fire service has said.

The fire has destroyed five buildings at Lancashire Enterprise Business Park in Leyland.

At its height, more than 100 firefighters tackled the fire, during which explosions were heard.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue said it still had about 30 firefighters at the scene at 16:30 GMT.

The service said there were four fire engines, an aerial ladder and other support vehicles at the site, and they warned it could take two or three days to put out the fire completely.

The fire broke out on Wednesday evening.

Chief executive of Lancashire County Council Phil Halsall praised the firefighters for the way they dealt with the blaze.

"This was a very serious fire and it is a testament to their efforts that it appears nobody has been injured."

He promised tenants of the business park that the county council would do its best to return operations to normal as soon as possible.

Paul Richardson, from the fire service, said one of the buildings affected had been storing toilet paper, a "ready-made fuel for fire", and some had wide areas of air space which had allowed the fire to circulate and spread quickly.

It is believed explosions heard in the area came from beer barrels in one of the buildings.

The west coast main line was closed until about midnight as smoke was blowing across the track, and concern about the explosions. There are no reports of delays on Thursday, but some roads remain closed.