An investigation is under way into the cause of a large fire at a student accommodation block which spread “extremely rapidly” to the upper floors of the building.

There is rising concern that the cladding on the building may have contributed to the blaze in Bolton, which led to two people being injured. The top floor of the Cube, which houses students from the University of Bolton, was gutted and the fourth and fifth floors of the six-storey building were visibly damaged.

Firefighters worked to extinguish the fire from about 8.30pm on Friday, with one witness describing the fire as “crawl[ing] up the cladding like it was nothing” as witnesses said the blaze quickly exposed the frame of the building.

Paramedics treated two people at the scene, including one person rescued by crews via an aerial platform, as about 200 firefighters and 40 fire engines worked to tackle the blaze at its height. All of the residents, who numbered more than 100, were accounted for as crews remained at the scene of the evacuated building on Saturday.

Grenfell United raises concerns over cladding after Bolton student fire Read more

“The fire kept getting more intense, climbing up and to the right because the wind was blowing so hard,” Ace Love, 35, said. “We could see it bubbling from the outside and then being engulfed from the outside.

“A lot of students got out very fast, someone was very distressed, the rest were on phones calling for help. The fire got worse and worse, to the point where you could see through the beams, it was just bare frame.”

Colette Wiseman, who lives opposite the block, said she heard shouting outside and saw smoke at the top of the building before flames came out of the window within minutes as the fire grew “like crazy”.

“I don’t even know how to explain it,” she told the Guardian. “It spread so rapidly.”

There are also reports that the fire alarms in some of the flats were not loud enough, while other students confirmed they go off almost every day – leading to confusion this morning over whether it was a drill or a false alarm.

Lauren Cobb, 19, a special effects makeup student at the university said: “I heard the alarm go off, however it goes off pretty much every day and everyone kind of got used to it. I assumed it would stop soon and it didn’t. My flatmate was the one who actually started to bang on my door and told me this fire was real,” she said.

Elise Millward, a 20-year-old student also studying makeup special effects, also initially dismissed the alarm because it goes off multiple times a day, but heard screams from peers and noticed smoke coming under the doors of her flat.

“We have all lost so much. I have accepted that I am not getting anything out of the building, we have been told that the whole thing is unsafe and will have to be knocked down,” she said.

A staff member at a local bar helped a student evacuated during the blaze, to source emergency medication after she left her own in her room.

Ellie Cornish forgot to collect her medication, which prevents seizures caused by PTSD, when she dashed out of her building adjacent to the Cube – but police told her she could not return.

The Cocktails and Co bar gave the 19-year-old shelter and a hot chocolate, and a staff member helped her organise an emergency prescription.

“I was worried about my medication as I was in a heightened state of stress and that can cause seizures for me,” she said. Cornish, from Bedfordshire, was able to collect the prescription late on Friday and is now staying with a friend. She said she had “no idea” when she will be allowed back to her flat.

Greater Manchester fire and rescue service assistant chief fire officer Dave Keelan would not be drawn on how and where it started, but confirmed the building was not clad in the same material as Grenfell Tower. However, he said it was evident from footage on social media that the fire developed “exponentially”.

“We need to review this, we need to do the fire investigation with other agencies and we need to look at what we need to do in the future and how we can learn,” Keelan said.

Colette Wiseman (@ColetteActor97) Video taken from my bedroom window. Hope everyone is ok. #bolton #thecube #fire pic.twitter.com/pgtnmrcCMG

Authorities have asked anyone who was living at or visiting the Cube to register at the nearby Orlando Village student hall of residence. Road closures remain in place around the area.

Urban Student Life, the company that runs the student accommodation, which was previously operated by Digs following its conversion from offices in 2015, was suspended from a national code of providers in 2016 for a year, after the opening of a new development in Leeds was held up by almost three months, according to the National Union of Students (NUS).

Students then faced significant delays in receiving rent refunds and, once the building was complete, no fire safety guidance was provided, the NUS said. Such suspensions are said to be extremely rare, and the tribunal rarely meets.

Prof George E Holmes, the president and vice-chancellor of the University of Bolton, said: “Supporting the welfare of our students is our number one priority and we have moved swiftly to assist in any way we can. University colleagues have worked through the night to make sure support is in place for students over the weekend.”

Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service (@manchesterfire) 👨‍🚒👩‍🚒Crews are using aerial appliances to fight the fire from above pic.twitter.com/5ek18pGs3n

He added that students had been provided with temporary accommodation nearby in halls and hotels, along with necessities and food. “I would like to stress that the Cube is not owned by the University of Bolton. It is owned and managed by a private landlord and the students were not on our premises during this incident.”

Eva Crossan Jory, the NUS vice-president responsible for welfare, said: “NUS has been calling for a number of improvements in fire-safety measures in student accommodation, and while this building doesn’t appear to have used the same cladding as Grenfell, we also don’t know what role it might have played in this fire.

“It shouldn’t take another fire to put the issue of building safety back on the agenda. Student safety must always be the first priority for accommodation providers and the government.”