On Monday 30 April 2007 a major fire started in a building on Dale Street Manchester, and spread to another building on the other side of the street, damaging the roof area.
The fire is reported to have started at around 6am.
The location of the fire is the building on the northern or eastern side of Dale Street at the junction of Litttle Lever Street.
The other building is situated on the west or south side of Dale Street between Little Lever Street and Newton Street.
The fire had earlier been misreported in the media as being on the junction of Lever St and Dale St.
It was declared to be a major incident and surrounding streets were cordoned off while firefighters fought the blaze. There was extensive traffic disruption.
When I visted at lunchtime, the fire had been quelled but the building looked in a precarious state. Officers from the police and other services were on duty. Surroundingl streets were sealed off with police tape. Snaking along the pavement were many fire hoses, (one of which I accidentally tripped over). Cameramen and media people gathered on the corner of Dale St and Newton St.
It’s speculated that the fire may have been started by ‘vagrants’.Over recent weeks there have apparently been a number of small fires in this part of the Northern Quarter.
Over the years, many buildings in Manchester have been destroyed by fire, though some have been renovated.
In 1998 I witnessed a fire at the Yang Sing builiding on Princess Street, which damaged the interior of the building. It was completely renovated.
The 1996 bomb caused many fires and several buildings had to be demolished. Others were renovated.
On 8 May 1979, 10 people died in a fire at Woolworths on the corner of Oldham St and Piccadilly, just a stone’s throw from today’s fire.
The Manchester skyline looks the way it does due to the effects of fires caused by the Blitz of 1940. The CIS Building, No1 Deansgate, Piccadilly Plaza were all constructed on sites left empty after buildings were damaged or destroyed by fires from wartime bombing.
In recent years, many mills in the Ancoats area have been destroyed by fires, some started under suspicious circumstances. A fire led to the demolition of the mill where the first transatlantic cable is said to have been manufactured.
EOM says: we should be grateful for the professionalism and bravery of the Greater Manchester Fire Service. Without their intervention today’s fire would have destroyed much of the Northern Quarter.
Related links:
Manchester Evening News website report