Fire broke out on Northumberland Foods potato roasting line
Nov 13 2010 by Brian Daniel, The Journal
PRODUCTION was continuing yesterday at a troubled Northumberland food factory hit by a fire.
Work was largely unaffected at the Longbenton Foods site at Amble, despite a fire on one of the plant’s production lines on Thursday night.
The fire broke out at around 8.45pm on one of the frozen potato company’s roasting lines.
Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service last night revealed the blaze had started when the line overheated and oil on it caught fire.
Around 20 staff were on night shift at the time, and they rang the fire brigade and used an extinguisher to try and put the blaze out.
However, they were unable to do so and evacuated the Coquet Enterprise Park factory to wait for firefighters to arrive.
The fire service sent engines from Amble and Pegswood, and after the former arrived, its crew requested another two.
Further engines from Alnwick and Pegswood attended.
Using breathing apparatus, they worked to keep the fire from the roof of the building and cooled the outside of the production line before using foam to put the fire out. Firefighters left the scene at 10.25pm. No one was injured in the blaze.
Yesterday lunchtime, staff were cleaning up after the blaze and fire investigation officers and insurance company representatives were due to arrive.
Vidar Engen, managing director of Lonbgenton Foods, said production at the site had been largely unaffected by the blaze.
He said only the damaged part of the production line was not operational and that with cleaning work to do, there should be no need to send any staff home.
Mr Engen said bosses were seeking a replacement part for the damaged section of line.
He said: “We kind of have to look forward and see how we can in the best possible and quickest possible way get things back up and running to keep customers happy because that is also how we keep jobs.”
Steve Richards, fire service group manager, said: “There is a fire investigation team going today, the idea being that we would help the individuals who run the factory prevent the same incident again.”
The factory was only taken over by Longbenton Foods last month after a deal with the administrators of failed previous owners Northumberland Foods.
