PRESTON'S Fire and Rescue Service had to call for help from an unusual source to help stop this blaze spreading - a skip company.

Preston Borough Council blocked the entrances to the old market in Bow Lane to keep out intruders - but they also prevented fire engines from entering the premises at 1.44pm on Monday.

Firefighters were forced to park their pumps on the street and climb through the fencing to tackle the blaze.

Preston police called the council to have the skips removed while the flames were doused.

While the cause of the blaze was not known, it is believed to have been started by youths.

Incident Commander divisional officer Dave Farrimond said: "We initiated our new incident command system on this fire, which we developed on a functional command basis.

"I appointed sub-officers for health and safety, operations and breathing apparatus for the well-being of the team.

"Because of the information flow and communication between myself and the functional officers, the whole incident was really well organised and we didn't even suffer a minor injury.

"We will be carrying out a full investigation of the fire. There were no normal sources of ignition - so it was either a discarded cigarette or a malicious reason behind the start of the fire."

Paul Haydock, assistant divisional officer and station commander at Preston Fire Station, added: "We got in touch with the police and they contacted a skip company to get them removed.

"I can appreciate they want to make the site safe and keep vagrants out but it gave us a problem.

"From our point of view, the fire is a good stop because it hit the roof and started to spread along it.

"It could have spread along the roof and spread to other buildings."

Sergeant Peter Boyle of Lea Police said: "We've had problems with youths in the area on previous days but we don't know what the cause of the blaze is at the moment."

Bow Lane was closed for the duration of the fire and for firefighters to investigate the blaze.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.