ABOUT 100 fire service employees were evacuated from their headquarters after a suspicious package was found this morning.

Army bomb disposal experts were called to the offices of North Yorkshire Fire Brigade, in Thurston Road, Northallerton, at about 7.20am.

A controlled explosion of an unattended briefcase was carried out.

A fire service spokesman said: "There was a suspicious package found in one of the corridors of the ground floor of the building.

"Our Northallerton fire crew was called, as well as the police, who called bomb disposal experts.

"A controlled explosion was carried out at about 9.30am, and the building reopened at about 10.10am."

The spokeswoman said the entire building was evacuated, involving about 100 staff.