Industry News

Echo Arena car park fire destroys 1,400 cars

A fire that engulfed Liverpool’s Echo Arena multi-storey car park on New Year’s Eve destroyed more than 1,400 vehicles.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said the fire at King’s Dock was one of the worst it had ever dealt with.

The BBC reported that the fire started by accident in one car and spread to other vehicles.

Merseyside Police said that 21 fire engines were at the scene during the night and the fire service said it was guarding against the risk of the building collapsing.

All vehicles left in the 1,600-capacity car park have been destroyed, police said. The outside of the multi-storey car park next to the Echo Arena is blackened and charred and the inside of the building was collapsing.

Chief fire officer Dan Stephens said: “There has been localised collapse within the car park so the structure is unstable. We do have fire fighters working in there – at the minute they are working in areas to the edges so it’s the centre of the structure where we have had the collapse.

“As it stands now the structure is unstable.”

He said: “The capacity of the car park to my knowledge is around 1,400 vehicles, seven storeys, 200 vehicles per storey. The event yesterday was attended by 4,000 – 5,000 people, so it’s highly likely the car park was at either near or full capacity.”