Firefighters battled through the night to quell an inferno that engulfed a building outside an Indian restaurant in the early hours.
The blaze was reported at 1.28am in a barn-style structure next to Spice of India on Widnes Road in Cuerdley on the outskirts of Widnes.
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) said four appliances, from Penketh, Widnes, Warrington, Lymm plus an aerial platform from Lymm attended.
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The A562 Widnes Road was closed for the initial emergency response and remained shut into Friday day time for building inspection works to take place.
CFRS has released a picture of the fire as it raged overnight, with bright embers being carried skyward on plume of smoke with a gout of flame piercing the rooftop below.
The building appears on Google Street View to have been used previously as a children’s play facility.
A CFRS spokesperson said the blaze happened at a commercial premises.
They said: “Crews dealt with the fire in sectors and used three hose reel jets to extinguish the well developed fire, which involved an outbuilding next to the main premises.”
The location of the fire is just outside Halton on the Warrington side of the local authority boundary.
