Blaze breaks out at North Shore hotel

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the Chequers Plaza Hotel on Queen's Promenade by an automatic fire alarm at around 12.50am on Thursday, January 18.

Four fire engines from Blackpool, Bispham and South Shore attended the scene and found the third floor of the hotel completely smoke logged.

Acting Watch Manager John Costello said: "There were good fire safety systems in place at the hotel and thankfully all residents managed to get out without injury.

"The high winds on the sea front and the complex layout of the building could have resulted in rapid fire spread and large scale incident.

"We surrounded the fire and put teams around the hotel to make sure this didn't happen.

"The fire started in a void between floors two and three which led to the third floor being smoke logged.

"We believe it started as a result of an electrical fault.

"Teams in breathing apparatus were also sent in to search the hotel to find the source.

"We used hose reels to put it out.

"Three or four rooms were damaged in the incident as we had to strip down some rooms to find the fire.

"The night porter at the hotel was really efficient. He found different rooms for the guests in another part of the hotel to minimise the guests' disruption. He did a really good job."

Nobody was injured during the incident.

Firefighters remained at the scene for around four hours.