YOBS who lit ‘flares’ at a gig in King George’s Hall have been condemned by the fire service for putting hundreds of lives at risk.

At least half a dozen red and blue pyrotechnic devices were ignited during a set by indie rock band The Courteeners at the Blackburn venue.

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More than 4,000 people from across East Lancashire attended the concert, with audience members saying they saw flames and sparks from the ‘flares’ as well as billowing clouds of brightly coloured smoke.

Yesterday the actions of those using the devices was described as ‘clearly unacceptable’ by the borough’s leisure boss and fire chiefs said it was ‘staggering’.

A spokesman for the company which provided security for the event said it had recovered a number of pyrotechnics at the gig which were smoke bombs rather than larger traditional flares.

Just half a mile from the venue, firefighters were tackling a huge mill fire blaze in Birley Street, which took eight fire engines and more than 40 fire fighters several hours to extinguish.

Group manager Richard Stott from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said: “It is staggering to believe that people think that it is safe to set off flares inside King George’s Hall.

“This is an extremely dangerous act that could have caused a serious fire and put the hundreds of people who were inside the hall at the time at significant risk.”

The gig on Monday night was a coup for Blackburn as the band are set to play some huge venues on their Autumn tour, including the O2 Academy in Leeds, and London’s famous Brixton Academy. The 4100 capacity Blackburn concert was completely sold out.

Blackburn with Darwen Council, which owns the hall, said security had been contracted out to an external company, Showsec.

The company had strict search procedures in place, with staff looking through bags and frisking concert-goers on entry.

 


 

Showsec’s area manager Tim Chambers said: “We worked closely with the venue’s management and the local police to ensure every possible measure was in place to restrict the use of pyrotechnics at the event.

“This involved a 100 per cent search at the entrance point with a pat down and bag search, and we also had a separate lane for females.

“There were eight devices, all of which were smoke bombs rather than flares.

“Smoke bombs are much smaller than flares and they do not get as hot, but their size makes them much harder to detect in our search procedures.

“Response teams were in place to deal with such incidents, but they were briefed to wait until the smoke bombs had burnt out.

“It’s important not to rush in to apprehend people in these circumstances because there is a risk they will throw the device.

“All of the smoke bombs were recovered and four of the offenders ejected from the venue before being handed over to the police.”

Councillor Damian Talbot, the council’s member for Leisure, Culture and Young People, said: “The vast majority of people had a great time and it was great to see King George’s Hall packed. We want to see more nights like this.

“However, it was disappointing to see some flares being set off.

“It was only one or two but any is clearly unacceptable.”

Fans were sharing pictures of the coloured smoke at the Blackburn gig on twitter yesterday but some fans hit out at those bringing the devices to the show.

Karl Hensman said: “Seems to be a smoke or flare go off at every Courteeners indoor gig now a days. Yobs.”

When the band, from Middleton in Manchester, toured last year, Preston venue 53 Degrees issued a warning to fans, saying it had joined forces with Lancashire Police to prevent fans from bringing pyrotechnics into the concert.

But a spokeswoman for Lancashire Police said no such warning had been issued ahead of Monday’s gig.

 


 

There was a heavy police presence around King George’s Hall, with police vans and dozens of uniformed officers on standby.

A police spokeswoman said that one man was detained for a drug search but was released with no further action, and no other arrests were made.

The band did not respond to requests for comment yesterday, but a statement on the official Counteeners Facebook page, posted at the end of last year, asked people not to bring flares to their gigs.

It said: “Please do not bring any sort of flare or smoke bomb to any of our shows.

“Anyone caught with either of these, at any show, will be denied entrance.”