A fire at the Casino Rooms nightclub in Rochester has destroyed part of the roof.

The blaze, which was reported to Kent Fire and Rescue Service at about 11.30am this morning, was extinguished with the help of 10 pumps and other specialist vehicles from across Kent as crowds from the annual Sweeps weekend watched.

Crews from Maidstone, Larkfield,
Sittingbourne, Thames-side, Teynham and Cliffe joined pumps from
Hoo, Chatham, Gillingham and Medway.

Police cordoned off Corporation
Street at the junction of Gas House Road and the High Street to
allow crews to deal with the fire, which is believed to have
started between the ground floor and first floor, above the
entrance to the building.

The area around the car park,
opposite the Casino Rooms, was also cordoned off.

Sorry, this video asset has been removed.

Audio: Ross Hutchins
talks to kmfm about the blaze.

Chris Colgan, the incident commander
for Kent Fire and Rescue Service said the quick-thinking and
actions of the cleaning staff, the police, and the initial crews on
the scene helped avoid a much bigger incident.

He said: "Considering the potential
for the fire to spread, it is quite a large building, a fire in the
roof space is always an issue for us because it is difficult
access, but I have got to say the first crews attending did a
tremendous job, they got in there and were able to contain the fire
before it spread to the rest of the building.

"We were fortunate that the police
did a very good job for us and enabled us to gain access with
traffic control so that worked really well.

"There were a few people in the
building at the start of the fire, they were the ones that
witnessed it, I believe they were cleaners, who got out and raised
the alarm very quickly, which was excellent, they did the right
things, they didn’t try and tackle the fire."

Fans were used to clear smoke from
the property and a turn table ladder was used to give crews better
access to the roof.

Mr Hutchins said there would be teams
working ‘24/7’ to have the building ready for its next trading day,
this Thursday.

The cordon was lifted by the police
at about 2pm.