FIREFIGHTERS spent eight hours pumping water out of a reservoir to stop the dam wall collapsing.

Heavy rainfall and melted snow resulted in the reservoir near the Sappi paperworks in Feniscowles, Blackburn, filling rapidly on Saturday morning.

Homes in Livesey Branch Road also had to be pumped out, while Pleasington Cemetery was also hit by flood water.

Specialist teams from Burnley and Greater Manchester were called to the reservoir just after 8.30am after reports the dam wall was close to collapsing, and could flood the already swollen River Roddlesworth.

Two high-volume pumps, one from each crew, were used to speed up the process of moving the water from the reservoir to the river.

High-volume pumps are capable of moving 7,000 litres of water every minute.

An Olympic-size swimming pool could be emptied by two pumps in three hours, compared to just more than nine hours with standard fire and rescue service pumps.

Incident Commander, station manager Kevin Fyles, of Lanc-ashire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Once the high-volume pumps had started pumping water from the reservoir into the River Rodd-lesworth, the water level began to drop.

“Firefighters remained pumping water away from the reservoir until approximately 3pm.”

In a separate incident nearby, heavy rainfall flooded three houses in Livesey Branch Road.

Firefighters were called to the houses at 8.30am to pump a foot of water out of gardens and the ground floors. A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said: “The ground was still frozen and, following a massive deluge of rain, the water took the path of least resistance, which was through the gardens of the properties.

“Two pumping appliances from Blackburn and Darwen were used, as well as an ejector pump, to clear the gardens and the houses,” he added.

Crews spent an hour at the scene.