EMERGENCY services were placed on red alert around 4am today after a chemical drum was discovered at the side of Burnley Road East, between Waterfoot and Whitewell Bottom.

Four fire crews, a chemical incident unit from Preston, an environmental protection unit from Burnley and the incident support unit from Accrington spent two and a half hours at the scene, near the slaughterhouse. The main road was closed for two hours.

It was believed the chemical could have been dangerous and the drum may have been leaking but the contents were later identified as sodium hydroxide, a strong bleach used to clean wagons at the slaughterhouse.

Sub officer Nick Clough, of Rawtenstall Fire and Rescue, said: "A police patrol spotted the drum by the road around 4am and it appeared as though it was leaking.

"At first we thought it may have fallen off the back of a wagon so we had to protect it until we knew what was in it.

"Once the chemical was identified as sodium hydroxide, firefighters in protective clothing checked it wasn't leaking.

"It wasn't -- so we moved it, put it into a bigger drum and secured it. The fluid was what the staff use at the slaughterhouse for cleaning the wagons with a jet wash.

"We have to treat everything as dangerous until it is identified. As it turned out it wasn't as serious as we originally thought."