VIDEO: More than 60 firefighters battle blaze to save 230-year-old church in Lancashire

?This dramatic video shows the moment a huge blaze tore through a historic 230-year-old church in Lancashire.
The fire started at an arts centre in the former Church of St John the Evangelist in James Street, Blackburn - the oldest church in the town.The fire started at an arts centre in the former Church of St John the Evangelist in James Street, Blackburn - the oldest church in the town.
The fire started at an arts centre in the former Church of St John the Evangelist in James Street, Blackburn - the oldest church in the town.

Hussnain Khan, 31, was driving home from a night shift when he saw the flames at around 6am.

It is understood the fire started at an arts centre in the former Church of St John the Evangelist in James Street, Blackburn - the oldest church building in the town.

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Nine engines and approximately 60 firefighters were scrambled to the scene at 5.22am today and an investigation is underway.

The fire started at an arts centre in the former Church of St John the Evangelist in James Street, Blackburn - the oldest church in the town.The fire started at an arts centre in the former Church of St John the Evangelist in James Street, Blackburn - the oldest church in the town.
The fire started at an arts centre in the former Church of St John the Evangelist in James Street, Blackburn - the oldest church in the town.

The video shows a pit of orange flames lighting up the early morning sky, with plumes of thick black smoke billowing over the buildings.

No casualties have been reported.

Security worker Hussnain said: "I came over the hill and just saw so much smoke. I couldn't work out where it was coming from at first.

"All I could see was this fire and lots and lots of smoke.

"It was quite worrying. There was a line of fire engines lined up and I didn't want to get too close.

"It's an old church and it's in our local area."

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A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said: "A fire in a former church, latterly a civic amenity and arts venue (Bureau Centre for the Arts), prompted a firefighting response of nine fire engines and approximately sixty firefighters together with two Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) appliances and a Command Support Unit and crews.

"Firefighters first on the scene gained entry at the front doors of the building and established that the fire had taken hold in the interior to an extent that it was unsafe to remain in there due to the imminent collapse of timber-framed balconies and roof trusses.

"Water jets were directed onto the fire through windows and from the ALPs from above.

"Firefighters were first alerted to the fire at 5.22am this morning and by 9am the firefighting response had reduced to four fire engines and crews, with the fire largely extinguished but for smouldering pockets of fire remaining.

"An investigation into the cause of the fire has begun. There were no casualties."

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