THREE little boys have thanked firefighters for saving their fathers' jobs.

Edward Maynard, aged nine, his six-year-old brother, Robert, and Matthew Gornall, seven, have presented Cleveland Fire Brigade's benevolent fund with a £1,000 cheque on behalf of their fathers, Sean Maynard and Andrew Gornall, directors of Mags Laser Commercial Printers.

The handover took place at Grangetown fire station where the crews, who stopped their South Bank business going up in smoke, are based.

In saving the printing works, the firefighters saved 26 jobs and a full book of orders.

Mr Maynard said lay-offs would have run into double figures with the inevitable loss of a prestigious order. He has already written a letter of thanks to Cleveland's Chief Fire Officer, John Doyle.

Mr Gornall said: "There was about £750,000 worth of gear in there. You cannot replace that overnight. We were looking at 12 to 13 years' work down the pan.''

Last year's blaze, which threatened to knock out the printing works, had started at the packaging plant next door, HSG Packing Cases.

Crews tackled the fire using an infra-red video link-up and a police spotter plane to locate the source.

Mr Maynard said: "When we got to the scene they (the firefighters) told us they were going to have immense difficulty trying to save the place. We spent two hours wondering how on earth we were going to sort it out in the morning.

"It would taken three or four months to get started again. It does not bear thinking about.''

Mr Maynard also said the fire would have had an impact on the firm's Newcastle plant.

Sub Officer Denis Whitton, who was at the fire, said: "We were just doing our job. At the time we didn't realise we were saving jobs; but it's brilliant we did.''