A BLAZE ripped through a section of a disused supermarket last night.

As the Leader went to press fire crews were still at the scene of the fire at the former Morrisons supermarket on Chester Bank Business Park, River Lane, Saltney, after being called out at teatime.

A search of the building was carried out using breathing equipment as early reports indicated someone was inside the building, but they later turned out to be false. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Sections of River Lane were blocked as Flintshire fire appliances turned out to the scene and thermal imaging equipment and a platform ladder were deployed. A crew from Chester Fire Station was also called.

Ambulance crews attended as a precaution because of the high number of fire crews at the scene, but no-one was taken to hospital.

Cllr Richard Lloyd, mayor of Saltney, said: “There was a heavy fire service and police presence and they had closed the road off.

“We could not see smoke or flames, but there was quite a nasty smell.

“We heard that possibly someone may have been in there and they seemed to be focusing on the roof space.”

A spokesman for North Wales Police said North Wales Fire and Rescue Service personnel were called to a single storey section of the disused and derelict Morrisons building just after 5.15pm yesterday.

An incident command unit was set up and the blaze was tackled by half a dozen pumps and firefighters using an aerial ladder.

The police spokesman said: “It will be some time before fire investigators will be able to get inside the building to establish was caused the blaze.”