THE YMCA building was evacuated this afternoon after a bin blaze shattered two three metre high windows sending plumes of black smoke over the town centre building.

Firefighters were called to the North Road/College Street blaze at shortly after 2pm where they found a blaze in a bin at the front of the building had spread to the building.

The heat from the fire caused the windows to shatter but there were no reports of any injuries and fire crew had put out the blaze by 2.15pm then ventilated the building to clear the smoke.

Smoke alarms activated and the building was safely evacuated before firefighters arrived.

Two fire appliances attended, one from St Helens Community Fire Station and one from Eccleston Community Fire Station and both had left the scene by 4.05pm.