A FIRE at a St Neots factory is expected to burn for ‘several more days’.

Flames broke out in a dust shed at Boardcraft Limited, in Howard Road Industrial Estate, Eaton Socon, on Monday (July 16). but quickly spread to the rest of a unit, about 30x60 square metres.

Firefighters were unable to save the unit on Monday but looked to protect the surrounding buildings.

Crews have been at the scene since it started attempting to extinguish the deep seated fire within the warehouse but are having problems accessing the source of the fire.

Gavin Hammond, incident commander, said: “Inside the warehouse is a deep seated fire, covered by layers of laminate boarding, some piles are up to four metres high.

“Due to this, if any water is dropped onto the fire, it will do little to tackle the fire underneath and instead only dampens the flames, causing a slow burn, rather than a quicker high temperature burn.

“Firefighters were initially looking to explore using machinery to pick away sections of the laminate in an effort to break it up. However, under the advice of a structural engineer, no one is able to go inside the building as it could easily collapse.

“Therefore, the fire is being allowed to burn out under controlled conditions. “Crews are satisfied that the fire is unlikely to spread and are completing regular reinspections of the site, along with a more constant presence by the site owner and tenant.”