More than 40 fire-fighters worked through the night to control a fire at the Salvation Army building in Chapel Street, Swindon on Saturday.

The crews were alerted to the fire at 9.45pm last night after reports of a blaze in the building in Gorse Hill.

When crews arrived they were confronted with a severe fire which had developed into the roof space.

A spokesman for the Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said: "Conditions for fire crews at the early stages of the incident were very dangerous and they had to use the specialist hydraulic platform to break through the roof to vent and extinguish the fire.

"Conditions remained hazardous for fire crews throughout the incident but they managed to prevent the fire from spreading into other parts of the building.

"Over 40 fire-fighters were needed and they were backed up by GWAS specialist Hazardous Area Response Team who were mobilised due to the large numbers of fire-fighters required to wear breathing apparatus."

Some of the meetings that were due to take place at the hall today have been cancelled while Salvation Army volunteers inspect the damage.

Group fire manager Perry Payne, who was in charge of the incident, said: "The crews led by Watch Manager Mark Evans did a really good job at the early stages of the incident, recognising the risks and working well under such conditions.

"This was a very challenging incident which required a lot of our resources to deal with safely and it was very fortunate that we were able to provide the numbers of fire-fighters we needed so quickly.

"Fires are always very traumatic whenever they occur but it was especially sad to see an organisation such as the Salvation Army who so often help others having to deal with such a devastating incident themselves".

Fire crews remained on scene throughout the night and completed their operations this morning.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.