FIREFIGHTERS were called to prevent the potential leak of hazardous gas from a Prestwich swimming pool this afternoon.

Fire crews from Whitefield and Bury attended the incident in Grosvenor Street at around 3pm alongside specialist hazardous materials officers, after reports that a cleaning chemical and water purifying chemical had been mixed together.

There was concern that chlorine gas could have been released.

Watch manager Mike Barrett said: “We checked out the situation with the specialist officers and made the area safe. It was only a small quantity of the chemical in a very small drum.

“We have not worked out how the materials mixed. It’s possible that someone has knocked one off the shelf into the other.”