Demolition at fire ravaged site

The fire could be seen from a number of miles away

Firefighters are to demolish one of the buildings which was gutted during a massive blaze at a resort.

More than 100 firefighters were called to The Parade in the centre of Skegness, Lincolnshire, on Thursday.

Flames swept through the buildings, forcing the collapse of a 200-metre long stretch of property.

Fire officers want to bulldoze the building to help tackle the blaze and to make sure masonry does not collapse onto a nearby electricity sub station.

The fire centred on the Lucky Strike arcade and The Parade, which is made up of four large entertainment bars - including Buster's Fun Pub and The Complex - and a number of concession stalls such as sweet shops and takeaways.

It [demolition] is the only way that we're going to put this fire out properly Simon Nash, incident commander for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Your pictures: Skegness fire

Simon Nash, incident commander for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, said the demolition work was expected to go on into the night.

He said firefighters wanted to control which way the building would fall to prevent any damage being caused to a nearby electricity sub station and to put the blaze out more quickly.

"It's very dangerous at the moment," he said.

"The fire has quickly spread through the building, burning away all the old traditional columns and we're left basically with a shell that is very unstable.

"The danger is that if the sub station is affected by the collapse it will have a devastating effect on the power supply to Skegness."

Treated as 'suspicious'

At its height the fire could be seen more than 20 miles out to sea and water from nearby swimming pools was used to put out the flames.

Police said the fire was being treated as suspicious but could not rule out an accidental cause as investigations were at an early stage.

Ch Supt Russ Hardy, said: "As the fire is unexplained, we are at this stage treating it as suspicious.

"There are a number of possibilities we are investigating and these include the possibility that it is accidental as there are a number of catering establishments in the vicinity.

"We are also investigating the possibility that the fire was caused deliberately."

He confirmed officers were investigating a possible link between the blaze and an incident on Thursday night in which two vehicles were damaged by fire outside an address at Church Lane in Addlethorpe - about five miles away from the resort.

Some of the businesses affected had been recently re-developed and modernised and others had been in existence for about 100 years.

Firefighters were expected to be at the scene until Saturday evening.