FIREFIGHTERS fought for hours to prevent disaster at Trafford Park, when a ferocious fire broke out at a pallet warehouse.

More than 100 firefighters battled to prevent it spreading to surrounding buildings.

Crews were drafted in from all over region to assist in tackling the blaze, which covered an area of more than 200 square metres.

The fire, the biggest the county has seen this year, broke out on Monday morning at GKN Chep, Mercury Way, an open compound that stored more than 10,000 wooden pallets.

Because of the recent dry weather the fire spread quickly through the pallets, creating a blaze that could be seen for miles around.

The first fire crews were on the scene at just before 6am. They faced intense conditions as they battled to gain control of the blaze.

The heat from the flames was so fierce that it melted the paintwork on fire engines and other vehicles parked up to 200 metres from the fire.

Despite this heat, firefighters moved in, placing ground monitors and using hand held hoses to gain initial control of the fire. Aerial monitors were also used, to help prevent it from spreading to surrounding buildings.

As well as utilising local water mains', thousands of litres of water had to be pumped out of the Manchester Ship Canal, to tackle the blaze.

Flames and smoke did damage several surrounding buildings, although this was kept to a minimum.

There were also five cars parked in the compound, firefighters managed to retrieve one vehicle, but the fierce heat made impossible to get to the others.

Ian Bailey, a spokesman for the fire service praised the work of the firefighters: "I don't like to blow our own trumpet, but the lads have done a fantastic job in containing the fire.

"The heat is incredible, even in the aerial monitor it is almost unbearable.

"When dealing with a fire like this you have to come to a decision; the pallets were lost and so focus had to be put on preventing the fire from spreading. If the fire had spread to the surrounding buildings we would have had a real disaster on our hands."

The cause of the blaze has not yet been confirmed and a full investigation has been launched.