Window of takeaway smashed in with sledgehammer after passerby calls 999

Firefighters smashed through windows with a sledgehammer

Passersby saw smoke through the windows of a city centre takeaway and called 999.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service received a call from a member of the public at 2.28pm on Friday, June 9, following reports of a blaze in a Filling Station takeaway, on North John Street in Liverpool City Centre. Four fire engines arrived at the scene five minutes later and arrived to find a six storey block of flats with a kitchen fire in the basement.

Firefighters smashed three of the takeaway windows to gain entry into Filling Station and two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus began fighting the fire with a hose. People stood on the street and watched as a member of the crew used a sledgehammer to gain entry to the takeaway.

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At 2.44pm the fire was extinguished. Firefighters then checked the above property for signs of fire and smoke spread before leaving at 3.05pm.

The manager of the business said there was a "small fridge fire" and people next door called it in after seeing smoke through the window.

She said: "Everything is fine it was just a little fridge. Next door saw it and called the fire brigade but the lads were in anyway. It was made bigger than it should have been."

No-one is understood to have been injured in the incident.

A spokesperson from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said: " Fire crews attended an incident on North John Street following reports of a fire. Crews were alerted at 2.28pm and on scene at 2.33pm.

"Four fire engines and an aerial appliance attended. Crews arrived to find a six storey block of flats with a kitchen fire in the basement.

"Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered under rapid deployment and began fighting the fire with a hose reel jet. At 2.44pm the fire was extinguished."