The site earmarked for Merseyside's tallest building was hit with a fire over the weekend.
The site of the Grand Casino building on Lord Street, Southport was the subject of a fire resulting in fire crews remaining at the building for four hours to extinguish the blaze.
It was recently announced that the Grade II listed building would be transformed into a 48 storey " Tower of Hope " but saw firefighters tackle a fire in the building on Saturday, February 6.
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Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that they received reports of a fire just before 4am and three fire engines arrived minutes later.
When the crews arrived they found wood and building materials involved in a fire.
Firefighters put the fire out using hose reels and left the scene at 8.30am after handing over the building owners.
An MFRS spokesperson said: "Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service was called to Lord Street, Southport, on Saturday February 5 following reports of a fire at a building under renovation.
"Crews were alerted at 3.57am and on scene at 4.01am. Three fire engines attended.
"On arrival crews found a quantity of wood and building materials involved in fire.
"Firefighters extinguished the fire using hose reel jets.
"Crews remained on scene until 8.32am.
"The incident was handed over to the building owners."
A spokesperson for Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group, owners of the building, told the ECHO: "This was, thankfully, a relatively small fire started by some children.
"Luckily no harm was done and has not affected the works being completed on-site to restore The Grand Casino to its former glory. We have had to further tighten security of the site."
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