A new report has revealed in detail what happened on the night student accommodation in Bolton went up in flames. 

A blaze broke out at the seven storey Cube complex in Bradshawgate on the night of November 15 last year.

This is how fire fire unfolded:

The Cube, which is privately owned and operated, opened in 2015 offering studio and en-suite cluster flats a for 221 residents who were primarily students. The seven storey building recorded as being under 18 metres was clad with high pressure laminate cladding.

At 8.29pm on Friday 15 November 2019, North West Fire Control (NWFC) received a 999 call alerting Greater Manchester’s emergency services to the fire.

The first fire engines were on scene within 3 minutes and 17 seconds, and crews immediately took action to secure the safety of the residents.

Within 25 minutes of the first 999 call the GMFRS Incident Commander at the scene declared that all floors of The Cube were involved in the fire.

It appeared that most residents had been evacuated, but this could not be confirmed and intense firefighting took place with the number of Fire and Rescue Service appliances – fire engines, hose layers, high reach aerial appliances – rapidly increasing.

At the peak of the incident 45 of 50 available GMFRS fire engines were attending The Cube or other simultaneous incidents across the city-region, including a gas leak, a vehicle fire and two domestic property fires where members of the public were reported to be at immediate risk.

As a consequence, resources from Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Services were mobilised to Greater Manchester to support GMFRS.

Within the first 30 minutes crews rescued two people trapped in their flats by fire, heat and smoke.

One woman was rescued from a sixth floor window.

The report states: "Firefighters attending the scene were faced with rapidly developing and unpredictable fire spread.

"Burning debris falling from the sixth foor, collected within the recessed façade of the building at ground level, developing further seats of fire. This was particularly noticeable in the atrium area between the north stairwell and the accommodation. The fire then spread upwards, causing large amounts of radiant heat from roof level."

Following the report today, Metro Mayor Andy Burnham said the blaze highlighted the dangers cladding on buildings.

Jim Wallace, Chief Fire Officer at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The speed with which the fire took hold and the devastating impact it had on the building was immense. I want to place on record my appreciation of the actions of all who responded to the fire at The Cube.

"Our firefighters and incident command team worked in a high risk and rapidly developing environment and showed professionalism, effectiveness and dedication throughout.

“The reason we are publishing The Cube Incident Report is to share our experiences and what we learned with our partners and across the emergency services family to help them develop and review their own plans to deal with this type of major incident.

"Whilst there were no serious injuries, the way the fire spread rapidly was vast and although we did a number of things well we can always learn from reviewing and refining."