FIVE fire crews battled a blaze in Haslingden for almost six hours on Saturday morning.

The fire, at Spout House Farm, Cribden Lane, off Laund Lane, started in an outbuilding in the early hours of the morning and quickly spread to the house and a caravan that was parked in front of the building’s gable end.

Rawtenstall fire station was alerted at 4.20am and when firecrews arrived they found the blaze “well alight”.

Firefighters used breathing apparatus to fight the ‘intense’ fire from the inside.

Watch manager Shaun Naughton said: “The house is an old farm building from the 1600s that has been converted.

“As is often the case with these types of buildings, access to water can be problematic and so we needed back-up from four other fire crews.”

The occupants of the building were not inside the property when crews arrived and no-one was hurt or injured during the fire.

Firefighters successfully contained the fire so that no neighbouring properties were affected.

The house now has no roof and certain rooms have also been badly affected by smoke.

Both the caravan and the outbuilding have been severely damaged.

Fire officials say that the fire is thought to have been accidental, but as yet no cause has been identified.

Watch manager Naughton added: “What we do know is that the electrical intake box was above the outbuilding and once that caught fire, it spread to a nearby oil tank.

“There were also some empty gas cylinders in the outbuilding which made the situation potentially dangerous.

“We would like to use this opportunity to remind people that if they have empty cylinders to get rid of them instead of storing them in garages and outbuildings.

“They are dangerous to us and dangerous to the public and should not be kept.”