FIREFIGHTERS have told of the "extremely challenging" battle to extinguish a large fire at a Wem industrial building on Wednesday.

At around 12.30am on Wednesday, October 6, Shropshire Fire and Rescue was alerted to a fire at a building in Wem Business Park.

Crews from Wem, Prees and Whitchurch tackled the blaze, along with other units from around the county.

Firefighters from Market Drayton, who were also on the scene, have told of the dramatic efforts to extinguish the fire.

A spokesman for Market Drayton Fire Station said: "On arrival at the scene the crew from Wem were confronted with a fully developed severe fire in progress involving a number of commercial units, smoke and flames were issuing through the roof of the property.

"The incident commander immediately requested additional appliances and crews, to support the firefighting efforts and to provide additional water supplies, an aerial ladder platform was also requested to attend to allow access to the roof.

"The request for additional assistance led to the mobilisation of the rescue pumps from Whitchurch and Shrewsbury, the aerial ladder platform from Shrewsbury, the command support unit and support pump from Tweedale, the FAST team from Telford, the welfare unit from Newport and additional senior officers.

"Firefighters worked in extremely challenging and hazardous conditions to prevent the fire spreading to further units, utilising breathing apparatus, handheld main jets and hose reel jets.

"The aerial ladder platform once in attendance, was sited and pitched to provide a water attack using an aerial monitor.

"Through the hard work of all the initial attending crews, officers and assistance from Fire Control in mobilising resources and requests for additional partner agencies, the fire was brought under control and prevented from spreading further."

Areas of Wem were also left without power, as engineers were forced to isolate the electricity in the affected buildings.

"Because of the hazard from damaged electrical cables and equipment, Scottish Power were requested to attend to isolate the power to the effected units," the spokesman added.

"Unfortunately, because of the damage sustained, it was not possible to isolate the electrical supply without isolating the mains underground feed, this resulted in a power outage to a number of properties in Wem while the area was made safe.

"Sadly, despite the best efforts of all the crews who attended, severe damage from fire has been caused to four commercial units, with others having sustained damage from smoke.

"We are pleased to be able to report that there were no injuries at this incident.

"The cause of the fire remains under investigation by specialist fire investigation officers and officers from West Mercia Police."