A FIRE ripped through the roof of a Darwen wallpaper factory last night.
The blaze at Zen Wallcoverings, in Cross Street, started at around 11pm and crews from Darwen, Blackburn, Accrington and Oswaldtwistle spent around an hour bringing it under control.
The fire started after a waste paper compactor overheated, setting fire to paper and then the roof of the compactor unit.
"The roof of the compactor building was burned right off," said sub officer Paul Yates, of Darwen Fire Station.
"Luckily we managed to stop it spreading to the rest of the factory. There were 18 employees working at the time but they had evacuated to the car park."
Zen Wallcoverings employs a total of 140 people at the site.
"It disturbed production overnight but we are running again as normal now. It won't affect our operation," said chairman John Birtwell who praised the speedy response of the firefighters.
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