'Something out of a horror film'

Fire at Maple Mill, Cardwell street, Oldham. Pic shows, Greater Manchester Fire Brigade, attending the fire.

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A MEMBER of the traveller community caught in a fire at an unused mill described it as 'something out of a horror movie'.

Ten fire trucks attended a blaze on the first floor of Maple Mill, Hathershaw just before 7am on Friday morning which was being used by a group of travellers.

One of the travellers, who set up camp in the mill's car park, said they woke up to smoke filling their caravans and the sound of sirens ringing around them and panic ensued.

But once the fire service arrived, they coordinated and cooperated fully with their needs and managed to move on to allow crews to gain access to the site.

But some of the crews were hindered by a 'dangerous' dog, believed to be a rottweiler, which prevented them from gaining access to a part of the site and a animal warden was called to capture the dog.

Despite this, the fire service was able to bring the fire under control after around two hours - there were no injuries or casualties and fire services are currently investigating the cause.

A member of the the traveller community told the Chronicle how he would have gone unconscious if his uncle hadn't have woken him.

He said: "There was a lot of smoke. I woke up and I came out and the smoke was there.

"The smell of smoke was in the caravan. I must have been going unconscious and my uncle came in and woke me.

"I heard a lot of screaming, it was just chaos. I thought the caravan was going up into the fire."

He added: "The fire services were there, we woke up to the sound of their sirens. The fire brigade did their job, you couldn't have asked for a better job.

"I am still in shock. It was like a scene from a horror movie. There are no words to describe the fear that was going through my brain at the time."

Phil Nelson, Incident Commander who attended the scene, said: "The crews worked really hard to bring the fire under control and it is under control at the minute.

"There was a large amount of travellers that were on the site and we built a good relationship with them and managed to move them on so we could gain access.

"They cooperated and left which made it easier to get to the fire. The travellers have left the site and have taken their things with them.

He said: "There was a substantial fire on the first floor but due to the size and the construction of the building it was difficult to locate the fire and crews did a great job in locating and surrounding the fire.

"We have had three areas of the building covered with breathing apparatus teams attacking the fire at three sides to bring it under control."

The site, which is owned by kitchen firm boss Vance Miller who is currently facing having his assets seized for failing to turn up in court to answer a kitchen fraud charge, previously suffered a blaze in October 2012 when arsonists attacked the mill.