A Farnworth woman has spoken of her fear that something ‘would blow up’ as a fire tore through a derelict property in Farnworth leading to its roof caving in.

Residents on and around St Germain Street were warned to close their windows and doors as crews worked to tackle the blaze just after 4.30pm on Saturday, March 16.

Carol Denton has lived on St Germain Street for more than a decade – and says it is not the first time she’s seen the former Gouldings Martial Arts building on fire.

The 67-year-old said: “[My daughter Sarah] went to the door and she said: 'mum, mum the roof's just collapsed in.'

“That's when it was like a woosh going up, everything went up, the flames just jumped up. They were practically as tall as the trees.

“It was really bad. I've never seen it that bad. It was scary.”

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In the past two years, since Gouldings moved to its new location on King Street, Carol says she has seen ‘about four or five’ small fires at the building.

Speaking three hours after the fire broke out, Carol said: “They’ve only been small fires, the fire brigade have come and been here for about 20 minutes to half an hour and then they’ve gone. Once or twice, they’ve had to come back because it’s all gone up again.

“But this time, they’re still here. It’s still really bad, there’s still smoke around.”

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A Farnworth woman has spoken of her fear that there could be something that ‘would blow up’ as a fire tore through a derelict property on St Germain Street in Farnworth leading to its roof caving in. Residents were warned to close their windows and doors as crews worked to tackle the blaze just after 4.30pm on Saturday, March 16. Carol Denton has lived on St Germain Street for more than a decade – and it’s not the first time she’s seen the former Gouldings Martial Arts building on fire. In the past two years, since Gouldings moved to its new location on King Street, Carol says she has seen ‘about four or five’ small fires at the building.

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Planning permission to demolish the building and to erect a detached three-storey apartment building, with 36 residential units, on the site has been submitted to Bolton Council, though it has not yet been approved.

Now, Carol wants the building to be fully demolished to stop the fires.

She said: “Pull it down altogether, that’s the only way they’re going to stop it.

“I know there’s planning permission for apartments to be built across there, but it’s whether when they start building these apartments, are people going to go in doing this again, while they’re building?”

Neighbour Angela Seddon agreed with Carol.

The 57-year-old, who has lived on the street for 28 years, said it was the fourth time she had seen a fire at the abandoned building.

She said: “We’ve actually been told that there are apartments built there, planning permission has gone in. So, hopefully that happens soon to stop all this.”

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said: “At around 4.30pm today (Saturday 16 March), fire crews were called to reports of a fire at a derelict property on St Germain Street, Farnworth.

“Four Engines from Farnworth, Bolton Central and Atherton, and the turntable ladder from Bolton Central quickly attended the scene.

“Fire crews extinguished the fire using three hose reel jets.”

Greater Manchester Police has been contacted for comment.

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.