TWO office workers and two firefighters have been given the all clear after crews investigated a possible chemical leak in Accrington town centre.

Workers at Duckworths Estate Agent in St James Street reported a ‘haze and strange smell’ in their building at about 3.30pm this afternoon, which prompted a major investigation involving 10 fire crews, police and paramedics.

A specialist unit from Manchester was called to the scene at about 6pm, but was unable to establish what the substance was.

Incident commander Steve Snape said this evening: “We’ve done all our surveys and we’ve decided we can find anything. We’ve turned the power back on and left it for 20 minutes so see if anything was being emitted, but there was nothing.”

Fire crews have turned the power off again and passed the premises over to the landlord, with advice to contact them again if there are further issues.

Two female officers workers and two firefighters were checked over by paramedics and given the all clear.

Watch manager Gary Drinkwater said earlier: “It’s a bit of a mystery at the moment as to what’s caused it. There was a haze in the building when we arrived and a sort of sweet smell. It’s not something I’ve ever smelt before. It’s a strange incident all round.”

A large area in the town centre was cordoned off by police.