Everyone on site was accounted for after a large fire at the former Fiddlers Ferry power station. The A562 has reopened; crews stay overnight and nearby residents were told to keep windows shut.

Firefighters spent Thursday afternoon tackling a large fire at the former Fiddlers Ferry power station at Cuerdley. Everyone on the site has been accounted for.

Updated 16 October: when we checked on Friday morning, the fire service still listed the incident as ongoing. Its last update was at 16:45 on Thursday. It had not said the fire was out, what caused it, or that the advice to keep windows and doors closed had been lifted.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service logged the call at 12:58. It described a large fire at an industrial unit at a power station in Warrington. By 14:00 crews had confirmed that the fire appeared to be contained within a chimney area.

The service’s incident log does not name the site. Its road closure, the A562 Widnes Road eastbound from Dan’s Road roundabout, runs past Fiddlers Ferry, the borough’s only power station. The photograph the fire service released to the media shows flames at the foot of the station’s chimney, beside demolition rubble.

What the fire service has said

All of the following comes from the service’s incident log, updated through the afternoon:

  • 13:40: nearby residents were asked, as a precaution, to keep windows and doors closed. The A562 Widnes Road was closed eastbound from Dan’s Road roundabout in Widnes towards Warrington.
  • 14:00: everyone on site was accounted for. Crews set up inner and outer cordons and secured a water supply.
  • 14:30: an aerial ladder platform was putting water onto the fire and a high reach extendable turret was being set up. Cheshire Police were supporting the road closure and the outer cordon. A fire engine from St Helens was released.
  • 15:00: the road reopened. Seven fire engines and specialist equipment were still at the scene.
  • 15:50: five engines remained, with the aerial platform and the turret. The service expected to keep some presence there overnight.
  • 16:45: attendance was due to drop to two fire engines, the turret and a high volume pump. Crews were working with site staff to take the unit apart and damp it down.

The service has not said what caused the fire. No injuries were reported in the log.

Timeline of the Fiddlers Ferry fire on 15 October 2026: called at 12:58; residents told to keep windows closed and A562 shut at 13:40; everyone accounted for at 14:00; aerial ladder platform in use at 14:30; road reopened with seven engines at the scene at 15:00; five engines and an overnight presence expected at 15:50; scaling down to two engines at 16:45.
Graphic by The Warrington Wire. Source: Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service incident log.
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What it means for you

  • The A562 is open again. The eastbound closure from Dan’s Road was lifted at 15:00. Expect fire service vehicles near the site entrance overnight. Our Warrington roadworks and travel page has the other closures this week.
  • Windows and doors. The advice to keep them closed was issued at 13:40 for people living nearby. The service had not said it was lifted by its 16:45 update. If you are in Cuerdley, Penketh or Great Sankey and can still smell smoke, keep them shut.
  • If you see a new fire or flames, call 999. For anything else about the incident, the fire service’s incident page is where updates appear first.

The site

The coal-fired station closed in 2020. Its last three units shut by 31 March that year, SSE Thermal confirmed in November 2019. The site has since been bought by Peel NRE and is being cleared.

It is the biggest single allocation in Warrington’s Local Plan. Policy MD3 sets it aside for 860 homes and 101 hectares of employment land. Our Warrington planning news page explains what is planned there and where the framework stands.

We will update this page when the fire service closes the incident or says what caused it.