Spotland terrace gutted by fire

A terraced house in Spotland was destroyed by a fire that broke out on Friday evening (19 September) after a pan of food was left unattended on a cooker.

The house, on Spotland Road, close to the junction with Mitchell Street, was engulfed in flames when fire engines from across Rochdale arrived at the scene at around 8pm.

Initially firefighters believed that someone may have been trapped inside but it was later revealed that no-one was injured in the blaze.

The ground floor of the house was completely destroyed and the rest of the property suffered severe smoke damage.

A total of 15 firefighters battled the fire, six of them using breathing apparatus, for three hours. They needed four hose lines and a large high pressure fan to extinguish the blaze.

The fire crews were able to put the fire out before it spread to the loft space, which could have caused it to spread to the houses nextdoor.