Up to five people are thought to be trapped and there are “multiple casualties” after two explosions at a wood works near Macclesfield.
A four-storey building collapsed at Wood Flour Mills on Tunstall Road in Bosley, at 09:10 BST, with large fires at the scene.
Cheshire Police described it as a “major incident”, with firefighters not ruling out further explosions.
A woman whose house shook in the blast tweeted it felt like “an earthquake”.
‘Shockwave’
Cheshire East Council has asked people to avoid the Tunstall Road area of Bosley, and residents have been advised to close doors and windows.
Norman, who did not wish to give his full name, told BBC Radio Manchester: “We live more than half a mile away and yet the shockwave was so much that I actually thought something had hit the house.
“When I went outside you could see the huge pall of smoke and the flames leaping up from down near the works.”
North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) sent six ambulances, two rapid response vehicles and an air ambulance is at the scene.
BBC Radio Manchester reporter Michelle Adamson
Looking out from a car park, two or three fields away, there are plumes and clouds of smoke. These were white and grey in colour but are now black.
You can taste the smoke after this substantial explosion and subsequent fire.
As I was arriving there were two fire engines squealing past and there is a constant sound of sirens.
A whole fleet of ambulances are attending the scene.
An NWAS spokesperson said: “Our primary role is to assess the level and nature of injuries, and ensure that those people most in need are treated first and taken to hospital.
“At this stage, it is too early for us to confirm the number of casualties.”
Angela Shuker, who lives one farm along from the wood treatment works, said: “Our doors in the house just banged. We could see the flames rising not far from us down the road from the mill.”
