Eaton Socon: Factory Fire

16 July 2012, 14:57 | Updated: 17 July 2012, 13:14

More than 35 firefighters were called to Boardcraft Ltd in Howard Road, Eaton Socon at around 9.40am this morning.

A large fire had taken hold in a dust shed attached to the factory unit and gas cylinders which were on the site were quickly removed.

The blaze later spread to the main building, forcing firefighters to retreat and tackle the flames from the outside of the building.

One firefighter suffered heat exhaustion and was taken to hospital as a precaution.

The electricity board was also called due to an electrical substation being situated close to the building.

Andy Tucker, Incident Commander said: "In the initial stages of the incident, crews concentrated their efforts inside the building, trying to hold the fire back and also on removing a number of cylinders which were in the immediate area.

"Shortly after the cylinders were removed, the fire started rapidly spreading and it was at this point that it was deemed unsafe for firefighters to stay in the building.

"Thereafter, crews concentrated their efforts on tackling the fire from the outside and also to stop the fire from spreading to a number of adjacent buildings, including an electricity sub station which was nearby."

It is not yet clear how the fire started.