FIFTEEN JOBS have been saved by the titanic efforts of firefighters and others to quell a blaze which caused £50,000 in damage to a Widnes sawmill at the weekend.

Fire crews, staff, construction experts and even one ex-employee converged on Colin Myers Timber and spent Friday night and most of Saturday fighting the fire and ensuring the building was able to open for business on Monday.

A passer-by alerted Widnes Fire Brigade to a fire at the sawmill on the Hale Road by Ditton Railway just before 8.30pm.

The brigade sent a total of six engines to deal with the incident, which happened when sawdust piled underneath two hoppers caught light. Investigations are still continuing to establish what caused the fire.

The crews worked through the entire night to combat the blaze.

Construction experts Sammy Evans Ltd had to rush to the scene because the affected building needed to be demolished to allow firefighters to completely douse the flames.

Company Director Alistair Lawson said: "There were huge big hoppers above that, had they come down, could have injured somebody.

"I would like to say thanks to all the people who helped out. They seemed to drop everything to sort the problem for us.

"I really didn't want to have to tell the workers that they were being laid off because of the fire.

"But if it hadn't been for all the efforts, we wouldn't have been able to do it," said Mr Lawson.

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