THE EMERGENCY services expect to be deployed in strength to tackle a serious fire at a chemical site in east Durham this coming weekend – but thankfully the crisis will be only an exercise.

Hexion Speciality Chemicals operate from the North West Industrial Estate in Peterlee, producing formaldehyde and high quality resin systems for engineering and industrial applications.

The Peterlee site was one of the first factories on the estate in 1967 and is one of many locations the company has both in the UK and the rest of the world.

Under the COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazard) regulations introduced in 1999, Hexion has to produce a plan to deal with emergencies on site and provide safety information to residents and businesses within a designated area.

On Sunday morning the plan will be put to the test in an exercise involving a number of organisations including the police, fire and rescue service and Durham County Council, as the highways authority.

Anyone driving through the area may notice fire tenders or police vehicles heading to the factory, or they may notice an increased presence on the A19 trunk road. The test on Sunday gets under way at 9.30am and is being co-ordinated by the County Durham and Darlington Civil Contingencies Unit (CCU).

It takes place entirely on the industrial estate, therefore residents are not expected to be inconvenienced in any way.

Jill Bland, principle civil contingency officer with the CCU, said: "The aim of the exercise is to test the arrangements put in place both by the company and the organisations who would be called into action if the fire were for real.

"Local residents can be reassured that in the unlikely event of a genuine emergency the plans being tested on Sunday should enable any incident to be dealt with swiftly and professionally."