A FIRE at a Lidget Green church was close to getting out of hand this lunchtime.

A crew from Fairweather Green Fire Station attended St Wilfrid's Church after reports that a controlled bin fire had gone wrong.

Some guttering and a window were damaged but fortunately, the fire did not get inside the boiler room, which had looked to be in danger at one point.

A spokesperson at Fairweather Green station said: "There's a car park behind the church that gets rented out and I think some people were just having a tidy up.

"They didn't use much common sense because they had the controlled fire by the church wall.

"The bin fell over and set some carpets alight and the fire then tried to get into the boiler room.

"It melted a perspex window cover but fortunately it was all bricked up behind that so the room was protected.

"We did have to force entry into the boiler room though to make sure it hadn't spread inside, as when we called a keyholder for the church, he didn't have the right set of keys.

"The only other damage was a little bit to the roof and guttering.

"We were there for about an hour from 12:55pm, and used just the one hose reel. We were the only crew in attendance."