Massive blaze destroys egg packing factory in Lothian

Published on Monday 18 July 2005 14:37

AN egg packing factory has been gutted by a massive blaze on a Midlothian industrial estate.

Firefighters were today still monitoring the remains of Deans Foods in Loanhead more than 24 hours after being called there.

More than 70 firefighters battled to bring the fire under control yesterday.

The situation was made more difficult by the fact the roof contained asbestos and there were gas cylinders in the factory that could have exploded.

A senior firefighter described the factory as "a tangled wreck", but said the blaze was now under control.

Part of the factory collapsed and seven members of staff had to be evacuated from the building after the fire broke out at about 6.30am yesterday.

Twenty crews battled the fire at the Edgefield Industrial Estate all day yesterday using ten pumping appliances and three hydraulic platforms.

Maurice Gibb, assistant divisional officer at Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, said: "It was a difficult fire to fight because of its sheer size.

"The building was composed of two main sections adjoined by doors. One main section was totally destroyed and a refrigeration room and another room suffered smoke and heat damage."

Firefighters had to undergo a decontamination process after putting out the fire in the roof, which contained asbestos in corrugated sheets. Police said there were no injuries reported apart from one firefighter who sustained minor injuries after being hit on the head by falling debris.

Andrew Joret, operations director for Deans Foods, said: "It's not a total loss we have been told, so we are confident some parts of the factory will be back in production, maybe within a week. We are pleased none of our staff were hurt and we regret the injuries to one of the firefighters."

Mr Joret said they had not yet been able to assess the value of the damage to the property, but would try to make sure customers were not affected by switching production to two other factories owned by the company in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

A police spokesman said the fire was not being treated as suspicious.

Assistant Divisional Officer Jeff Bowces said: "It was lucky no-one was seriously hurt."

The egg production plant employs 150 staff and has been at the Loanhead site for more than 30 years.

It produces liquid eggs - breaking the eggs, pasteurising the contents and sending them on to food manufacturers to make end products like cakes and mayonnaise.

The other part of the factory produces cooked egg products like omelettes and scrambled eggs for hotels and airlines.

In March this year vandals caused 50,000 worth of damage to three articulated trailers owned by Dean Foods in a fire at a storage site. A group of up to eight youths were spotted in a storage yard shortly before the blaze.