Underground mine fire deliberate

Firefighters had to go down into the mine shaft

Firefighters have said an underground blaze at a disused mine shaft in Wrexham was started deliberately.

The fire at the Celtic Industrial Estate, Summerhill, was reported at about 2000 GMT on Wednesday.

The old shafts are full of rubbish which was ignited.

Ian Williams, County Operations Manager with North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: "This fire once again demonstrates the time-wasting caused by deliberate fires".

He added: "This kind of irresponsible behaviour ties up resources that could be saving lives elsewhere, and puts the lives of both the public and firefighters at risk."

Ventilation shafts

Firefighters left the scene for a short time overnight and returned on Thursday morning to try and douse the blaze which is about five metres (16ft) below the surface.

Mr Williams added: "Having discovered where it is within ventilation shafts inside the old mine, we have had to create a small hole in the ground in order for our firefighters to get to it.

"Wearing breathing apparatus, access for the firefighters was very restricted and for safety reasons they also had to use restrictive rope access equipment to enter the area."

The fire service said the blaze, which was extinguished at 12.56 GMT on Wednesday, did not pose a risk to the community.

Officers will return on Friday morning to check the area.