A SPATE of mill fires has cost businesses in Rossendale more than £12 million, a fire investigator revealed today.

Yesterday a forensic scientist from a specialist fire investigation company was searching through the remains of Rossendale Slipper's factory on East Parade, Rawtenstall, to try to determine what started the blaze which gutted the site at end of last month.

Owners of the firm have vowed to restart the business as soon as possible to secure the 90 jobs.

National Carpets' warehouse in Bacup was destroyed after exploding into flames in August and the company pulled out of the town leaving 70 redundancies.

Also in August, Michael John Tattersall's footwear factory in Waterfoot was extensively damaged and has now been demolished. That fire also badly damaged part of Richard Cort's car showroom and garage and the company has opened a temporary repair workshop in Bacup.

Divisional officer Michael Frankland, the investigating fire officer, said: "Rossendale Slipper's fire is expected to cost £4 million, National Carpets cost £6 million and the Waterfoot fires are put at about £2 million.

"The file remains open on National Carpets and the Waterfoot fires and we are hoping we will have more information about the slipper fire next week.

"Rossendale Slipper was a pretty severe fire and there is not much evidence left. We have interviewed local residents to find out what they saw and also the police officer who spotted the fire and the first firefighters on site.

"There was no evidence that someone had broken in to start the fire but the burglar alarm was not working so we could not check that out to see if an intruder alarm had gone off. "Burnie, the fire investigation dog, has been to the scene twice but has not been able to detect any accelerants. I have spoken to the directors and they had no problems with staff and the business had been doing OK."

The premises is owned by Kenyons and Rossendale Slipper leased it. Both companies used the same insurance company who appointed the forensic scientists.

Mr Frankland said firefighters had suspected a boiler, but this had been ruled out by the forensic scientist and investigations were continuing.

The arson attack at PBA fabric shop, Newhallhey, Rawtenstall, on Sunday is still being investigated by police and firefighters.

Assistant divisional officer Neville Earnshaw said petrol had been found at the scene and inquiries were continuing.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.