Watch: Fire crews hone rescue skills in Bridgnorth's empty Westgate building

The Westgate building in Bridgnorth was used by firefighters to carry out a highly realistic drill.

The building, which currently stands redundant after Shropshire Council put the land on the market for a potential housing development, was filled with smoke by Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The service said no fires were started and no lasting damage would be caused to the building because of the special materials used.

Malcolm Stevenson, from the fire service, said: "The scenario for the training exercise is a number of people have not responded to a roll call and some are still inside the building. The firefighters have to go in and bring them out to safety.

"There are no real fires and Shropshire Council gave us permission to use the building.

"Although it all looks quite dramatic, with firefighters rushing in, there was no damage caused to Westgate."

Mr Stevenson said specialist generators were used to create a toxic smoke environment without leaving any residue.

"Firefighters use breathing apparatus but do not have to force their way through doors, so no one would know we'd been there," he said.

"This exercise is all about search and rescue, trying to recreate a realistic scenario the firefighters could find themselves in one day.

"It's important they are trained how to find a missing person but it's not all about bashing through walls and doors.

"These exercises are carried out quite frequently. There are more than 20 fire stations in Shropshire and each one will be involved in an exercise like this.

"Apart from a real life incident, this is as close as they get to experiencing the real thing."