FIREFIGHTERS are currently at the scene of a factory fire in St Ives. Four crews were called at 8.48am to reports that a building in Edison Road was on fire. A 200m exclusion zone has been set up around the building and it is not yet know if the factory

A LARGE fire broke out in the St Ives Industrial Estate this morning.

Firefighters were called to Clifton Rubber, in Edison Road, shortly before 9am to attend an Acetylene cylinder that was ablaze.

Fire crews were confronted by flames licking the roof of a one-storey metal building. Four firefighters, wearing breathing apparatus, extinguished the blaze and began cooling the cylinder – a process that will take 24 hours to complete.

Dave Flack, station manager for the Huntingdon area, said: “We believe that the fire was started accidentally and that no-one was injured.

“A 200m cordon around the affected area was set up for the public’s safety, and a crew will remain at the site for the next 24 hours, until the cylinder is deemed safe enough to move.”

Acetylene gas is highly unstable, and can readily explode if it is compressed.