MORE than 50 firefighters tackled a blaze at a Rishton mill after youths set fire to 300 tonnes of waste paper.

Police are studying CCTV images showing three youths trying to set the paper on fire at Rishton Waste Paper mill, on Riverside Industrial estate.

Crews from across East Lancashire were called out at around 2.30pm on Saturday and found hundreds of bales of paper in the outdoor storage area on fire.

Crews had to pump water from the nearby river to tackle the inferno, which took them four hours to bring under control. They also used five water jets and an aerial ladder to tackle the blaze, which caused £50,000 in damage.

The Hazardous Material Unit from Burnley also attended to divert the water used to fight the fire so it did not contaminate the river.

They remained at the scene for most of the day damping down the smouldering piles of paper.

Bill Braysford, owner of the firm, said: “We have now begun a clear up operation as it is an absolute mess. It is just sheer luck that it didn’t get to the building which would have been destroyed.

“I am just pleased that no-one was injured. It is just mindless arson and the CCTV shows these three lads taking up to half an hour trying to get the paper to light.

“They seemed very deter-mined to start this blaze which could have resulted in serious injury if my staff had been in the building.”

Phil Whittaker, Accrington Fire Station watch manager, said: “Because of the nature of the compacted waste paper there were not many flames but there was a huge amount of smoke and we had to pull the bales apart to try extinguish the fire.

“The firefighters were very tenacious because there was a lot of smoke and they did a remarkable job in containing the fire and stopping it from spreading to nearby buildings.”

The 8,000 square foot ware-house and yard is capable of storing up to 1,000 tonnes of waste paper and is on the site of the former Rishton Paper Mill, which was once owned by newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell.