Store’s roof taken off as fire goes into second day
THE roof of the Wing Fat Chinese supermarket was removed as firefighters continued to tackle pockets of fire more than 24 hours after a blaze broke out.
Gas canisters inside the gutted building still posed a risk of explosion, rescuers said yesterday.
Demolition workers were called in to take away the remains of the roof, which collapsed after flames and smoke rose up through the building in Beswick.
Officers will now trawl through CCTV footage to try and understand how the fire started.
Senior officers say the building has been so badly damaged it will be difficult to determine the exact cause of the fire.
But they believe the best evidence will be provided by the 15 members of staff who were inside the building, in Gorton Road, when the blaze started.
It is still not known if all customers who were inside the cash and carry at the time got out safely, but no one has been reported missing.
All Wing Fat’s employees have been accounted for.
The air quality around the area was being tested to determine whether it was safe for hundreds of residents who were evacuated from the area to return to their homes.
Images from the scene show firefighters working in the smouldering wreckage of the supermarket.
The fire started at the Gorton Road building just after 11.20am on Tuesday.
At its height more than 60 firefighters worked to bring the enormous blaze under control as huge plumes of smoke covered the area.
In its latest statement, before the roof was removed, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said three fire appliances remained at the scene.
“Because the roof has collapsed the building is difficult and unsafe for crews to enter,” they added.
“A demolition contractor is set to remove the roof to provide better access for firefighters to tackle the remaining small pockets of fire in the fire and explosions caused by gas cylinders in the building.”
One member of staff yesterday described the fire as a ‘raging inferno.’
He told the M.E.N.: “I was working inside and heard people shouting there was a fire. Then all of a sudden it became really hot and we saw smoke so we all ran outside.
“Within about 15 minutes the whole place had gone up. The flames were big. It was a raging inferno.
“There had been 20 pallets of cooking oil delivered recently so that will have made the fire worse.”