FIRE crews from across East Lancashire spent more than five hours cooling a road tanker after a chemical reaction inside the vehicle.
Officers from Darwen were first called to the scene at Wolstenholme International, in Goose House Lane, Darwen, at 7.20pm on Saturday.
They were alerted after water accidentally got into the tanker and reacted with some aluminium powder and white spirit that were in the vehicle.
Two engines from Accrington and one from Blackburn attended later in the evening as backup as officers put water on to the hot tanker to cool it down.
Sub-officer Mark Doggett from Darwen said: "There was a chemical reaction with the contents of the tanker and some water which had accidentally got into the vehicle.
"We just kept putting water on it to cool it down. It was a non-explosive reaction but acted like a large kettle and we had to make sure it was kept cool so it did not radiate and cause damage to other tankers around it. It was a big protection operation."
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