A fire at Mondi Paper UKs Holcombe mill in Ramsbottom, Lancashire destroyed 500 tonnes of bailed paper and 20% of the structure of a warehouse on 5 December.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester fire brigade said appliances spent three days at the mill tackling the incident, with five fire crews from around the region needed at its height.

The spokeswoman said the blaze was believed to have started in an area surrounding a single-storey warehouse, used for the storage of recovered paper, which was stacked high with cardboard bales.

It was a very protracted incident, which we only closed off on the afternoon of 8 December, and the cause of the fire is now the subject of an investigation, she said.

Mondi Packaging UK bought Holcombe mill and Creams in Bolton from Danisco Pack UK last year (PrintWeek, 21 September 2001).

The mill has a capacity of around 88,000 tonnes a year and produces fluting recycled packaging paper and testliner for both the domestic and the French markets.

As PrintWeek went to press no one from Mondi Paper UK was available for comment.