FIREFIGHTERS called to an industrial estate this morning (Sunday, January 5) had to act quickly to prevent a trailer blaze from spreading to a nearby factory.

Emergency services received reports of a fire on the Hackworth Industrial Park, in Shildon, County Durham, at around 8am.

When fire and rescue personnel arrived they had to break through secure gates to the access the Barrier works site.

There they discovered two parked HGV trailers, full of general waste, well alight.

A crew from Bishop Auckland was the first on the scene and was able to control the flames to stop them spreading to the adjacent Solartron (ISA Controls) engineering site.

A further crew from Bishop Auckland and the aerial ladder platform from Darlington were also deployed to the scene and had extinguished the blaze in around two hours.

They plan to return to the scene later this morning (Sunday) to ensure it remains safe.

Station manager John Jameson, from Darlington fire station, said: “The Bishop Auckland crew did well to knock the fire down before the other two appliances arrived.

“We are unsure at this stage how it started, a fire investigation will be carried out.”