FIREFIGHTERS were called to a church after an electrical fault was found in a lift.

Fire crews responded to reports of a fire in a lift shaft in the United Reformed Church in Parson's Lane.

The sprinklers in the lift had activated and there was a strong smell, according to the watch manager at Bury Fire Station.

Three fire engines arrived at the scene at around 10.50am this morning, people using the cafe area of the building were evacuated.

The watch manager said: "We were called to reports of a fire in a lift shaft. The sprinklers had gone off.

"There was a strong smell. We isolated all of the electrics and got an engineer there. We evacuated the building.

"We left the incident with a responsible person."

The fire crew were at the scene for around an hour.