Explosion fears as county factory is hit by blaze
Firefighters fought to control a fire in a Telford factory with 3,000 litres of explosive solvent on site.
The blaze ripped through a large industrial printer within the Bischof and Klein premises in Hortonwood yesterday.
Workers at the site had to be evacuated when fire took hold of machine just after 3pm. Fire crews from Telford were quickly on the scene and Adam Tempest, the officer in charge, called for reinforcements when staff revealed their worries.
"We were told that the printer that was on fire was adjacent to 3,000 litres of solvents that were explosive," he said.
In total six crews, from Telford, Tweedale, Wellington, Shrewsbury, Newport and Hodnet went to the site, along with an incident unit.
Incident commander Tempest said: "This solvent reacts violently with water and so time was of the essence.
"The crews were also able to prevent the blaze spreading to the rest of the factory.
"If the fire had spread we may have been talking about people's livelihoods at stake."
