IF anyone was wondering why there were two fire engines in Blackburn town centre on Thursday, then fear not, the Town Hall was not on fire.

The engines, both from Blackburn fire station, were parked on Exchange Street for a training exercise.

Crews were deployed in full breathing apparatus into the basement of the Town Hall for a search and rescue exercise in order to simulate what it would be like if they were called to a fire there in real life.

The fire service often carry out exercises like this so they have an understanding of how some buildings are structured.

They are also able to gain a feel for what obstacles they might come across and what may happen should anything go wrong.

Other training exercises may involve visiting high rise flats or carrying out searches in sewers.