{"id":208375,"date":"2025-06-23T18:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T18:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/208375\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T18:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T18:55:11","slug":"residents-start-packing-bags-as-flats-evacuated-in-terrifying-manchester-fire-with-new-statement-issued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/208375\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents ‘start packing bags’ as flats evacuated in terrifying Manchester fire with new statement issued"},"content":{"rendered":"

Izzy Forbes had just got home when she was confronted by an enormous fire in the city centre\"IzzyIzzy and Georgie were wondering if they would need to evacuate(Image: Izzy Forbes)<\/p>\n

A woman has described the terrifying moment she started packing bags as fire consumed a building not far from her 14th floor flat.<\/p>\n

Izzy Forbes had been coming home from work when she saw smoke rising into the sky in Manchester city centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But as she turned the corner, Izzy described being hit by an intense heat as she saw a massive fire was consuming a building just minutes from her home.<\/a><\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES FROM THE SCENE HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Trainee journalist Izzy, 21, said: “I was walking home from work and there a lot of commotion. I turned the corner at HOME cinema and was instantly hit by a wave of heat. There was orange flames, it was really scary.<\/p>\n

“I thought it was best to get away from this as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

“I walked to my flat about two minutes away, I thought we’re going to be evacuated, I need to pack my things.”<\/p>\n

\"FirefightersFirefighters at the scene(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that two buildings have been evacuated.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for GMFRS said in a new statement tonight: “Crews are working hard to tackle the fire at the Hotspur Press building.<\/p>\n

“20 fire engines from stations across Greater Manchester are at the scene, where three floors of the building are alight.<\/p>\n

“Multiple jets and the air unit are in use to prevent the spread of the fire. All floors of the two apartment blocks at 1 Cambridge Street have been evacuated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Izzy’s flatmate Georgie Docker arrived home soon afterwards and the pair decided to go into their flat.<\/p>\n

Georgia 23, also a trainee journalist, said: “We’re a couple of buildings away. We’re 14 floors up and if we had to evacuate we would have to go down all those stairs.”<\/p>\n

“It was very frightening.”<\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack smoke billows into the sky(Image: Izzy Forbes)<\/p>\n

Izzy added: “There was clouds of black smoke everywhere.<\/p>\n

“I was trying to pack a bag in case our building was evacuated. I was struggling to breathe because it was coming through the window.<\/p>\n

“I was terrified, it was really scary. I’ve never seen anything like this.”<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

M.E.N. reporter Greta Simpson was at the scene, describing the sight she said: “My voice is hoarse. There is ash falling from the sky.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Izzy Forbes had just got home when she was confronted by an enormous fire in the city centreIzzy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,12264,4884,11566,2465,8086,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-208375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-fires","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-greater-manchester-fire-service","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-manchester-city-centre","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114734205809784523","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}