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Firefighters tackle blaze at town church

Six crews were sent to the south Norfolk town, along with an aerial ladder and a water-carrying vehicle

Firefighters have been tackling a fire at a Victorian church in a town centre.

Crews were called to St John's Church in Harleston, Norfolk this afternoon.

Six crews were dealing with the incident on Broad Street and a cordon was in place, the fire service said.

It advised anyone living nearby to keep their doors and windows closed.

News imageQays Najm/BBC Firefighters on a ladder just above the roof of a church, just behind its pointed gable end. A small amount of smoke is behind the tip of the gable end, which has a cross at its apex. Fire engines and passers by are in the street. There are red hoses across the road.Qays Najm/BBC
Norfolk Fire Service said the blaze was "under control"

"The fire is under control but not yet out," a fire service spokesperson said.

"We still have multiple crews in attendance on scene, including one of our aerial ladder platforms to tackle it from above."

Helen Orford, benefice administrator for seven churches including Harleston, was at the scene and said: "The fire is out but there was quite a lot of damage.

"Nobody knows what's happened and what caused it.

"The church wasn't just a church — we had a food bank in there; we had a lot of things for the community.

"Schools used it a lot – kids were supposed to come here for the harvest [festival] on Friday."

News imageHannah Day Smoke rising from the tiles on the side of a church roof. There are three firefighters on the pavement on the other side of the road from the churchHannah Day

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