A TRANSPORT depot and maintenance workshop at an industrial unit have been involved in a major fire.

About 10 fire engines were called to the Bradley Fold Trading Estate overnight.

The fire, caused accidentally, broke out in the early hours.

Firefighters remained on the site this monring,  dousing the flames and extinguishing the fire hotspots.

At the height of the blaze, there was concern over an acetylene cylinder.

An area was cordoned off while the substance was made safe.

The depot, off Bradley Fold Road, houses dozens of Bury Council vehicles, including gritters, bin lorries and road sweepers.

Some of the vehicles have been destroyed in the blaze. They included a bin wagon, which was in for repairs, and not operational

Crews from Bolton North, Bolton Central, Farnworth, Bury and Whitefield were called to the incident at about 12.50am last night.

Ste Urmston, watch manager at Bury fire station, said: "The fire involved an MOT testing station for Bury Council's vehicles and a workshop.

"There was a raging inferno at the time we arrived.

"Multiple vehicles were involved in the fire inside the building.

"A perimeter was put in place around a cylinder and it was made safe.

"The fire was almost out by the time we left at 5am."

A total of three fire crews remained at the scene at 8am this morning.

One of the firefighters who attended the incident said: "A building measuring about 50m by 30m was engulfed in flames.

"A truck inside was completely destroyed.

"Most of the inside of the building was damaged."

Bury Council's Neil Long said no one was injured in the blaze - and the welfare of the operatives working overnight was the first priority.

The huge workshop is where Bury Council repair and service the vehicles. Workers have been able to access the bin lorries parked outside so households will not experience delays in refuse collections. 

The busses used to transport people to daycare centres are also on the road.

Council officials met with firefighters yesterday for a debrief.

Mr Long said: "Unfortunately a couple of those vandalised buses have got set on fire, because we put them inside for safe keeping, they've gone up in terms of fire damage.
"The left hand part of the building is all our office accommodation and that has not been damaged by fire but because of the fire we had to shut down the heating, the gas, the electric, so there is no power, no computers or anything on this side at the moment."

He added: "We do know what has happened.

"It's something that's happened with the operative using the acyeltene for welding and as he has started to use the acyeltene it's blown back to the tank and he's heard the tank behind him blowing so he's obviously got out, it's not exploded as such but has set on fire so he's called the fire brigade.
"The operatives got out very quickly, they were very shaken up but we are looking after the welfare of the operatives we are making sure they are okay.
"There were two operatives which I have met this morning.
"The procedure now will be now to be risk assess the building, look at what the structural damage is, what the smoke damage is and then to get our insurance company down to assess the damage, but fortunately we can access most of the vehicles, and most things are operational."