Manchester City Centre Fire

2 November 2012, 10:24 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A number of buildings have been evacuated in Manchester city centre after a fire at a bakery in the China Town area.

Fire crews were called to St James Street, near its junction with Princess Street, at 7:30am this morning (Friday 2nd Nov) after reports of a large amount of smoke.

A woman living nearby told emergency services there was smoke coming into her flat - which was above a bakery.

Crews from Manchester Central, Salford, Philips Park and Hyde went out to the incident.

Teams of six firefighters in breathing apparatus are tackling the fire with jets and hose reels.

Station Manager Ben Levy said:
"It's a fire involving the storage area and bin compound at the back of a bakery which is in the ground floor of a four-storey building.

The building is multi-use - there's a restaurant, the bakery and residential properties in the floors above.

The fire is contained to the rear of the bakery and we've evacuated residents, leading them to safety, from the three floors above and we've gained access to further properties to check everyone is safe.

We've got four engines here and some specialist support in the Operational Support Unit from Hyde."