Residents in all bar one of 12 houses evacuated as a huge fire broke out in a derelict social club have been allowed to return home. Firefighters remain at the old St Luke's club in Moston this morning following Sunday afternoon's blaze.
Sulby Street is still closed, but Lightbowne Road has reopened, the fire service said in an update. A meeting will take place later today to decide what will happen to the building.
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However pictures from the scene show the former social club has been largely destroyed. Huge plumes of black smoke could be seen pouring from the building after the fire broke out at about 4.20pm.
Videos from the scene show flames shooting above neighbouring houses. A dozen nearby homes were evacuated due to the smoke.
At the height of the blaze five fire crews were working to extinguish the flames. One witness told the M.E.N.: "It was shocking because when it started it didn't look that big.
"It was just a bit of white smoke. But then it built up and built up and went black and all hell broke loose. Our whole street was covered."
In a statement on Monday morning the fire service said: "Firefighters have worked through the night tackling the fire on Sulby Street, Moston. Operations have been scaled back but one fire engine remains at the scene.
"Residents of 11 out of the 12 properties that were temporarily unsafe due to the presence of smoke were able to return to their homes last night. Greater Manchester Police are restricting access to Sulby Street but Lightbowne Road is open.
"A multi-agency meeting is taking place this morning to discuss the next steps for the derelict building."
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