FIREFIGHTERS remain at a disused Widnes pub following a major blaze last night.

Crews were called to the former Sporting Ford public house on Hough Green Road at around 8.15pm.

On arrival they found the building alight.

No-one was injured.

A structural assessment of the building is now being carried out by specialists.

An aerial ladder platform is being used to enable firefighters to strip the roof off the building so that they can access hot spots. Firefighters are currently damping down the cavities of walls.

Firefighters had initially used three main jets to fight the fire from outside the two-floor brick building measuring approximately 30 metres by 20 metres.

Three hose reel jets were also used to tackle the blaze.

An inner and outer cordon were set up for the safety of firefighters and members of the public.

A section of Hough Green Road was temporarily closed, between Bechers and Downside, whilst firefighters fought the blaze.

Police attended to manage the traffic and the outer cordon.

Due to the size of the fire, the site was split into four sectors by fire crews.

The fire breached the roof of the building.

An aerial ladder platform from Lymm was used to enable firefighters to tackle to fire from above with a hose reel jet.

The road was reopened at 9.30pm.

Firefighters gradually got the fire under control and by 1am the incident had been reduced to two fire engines and the aerial ladder platform.

Crews, aided by the aerial ladder platform, damped the pub down with water through the night.

A hydraulic platform from Macclesfield helped with the damping down process this morning.