Fire crews were called to the company, which is based in Edison Road, St Ives, at around 10.40am yesterday after a piece of machinery exploded in the consumables manufacturing building, resulting in a fire fuelled by alcohol-based chemicals.

A hazardous materials unit was called in to deal with the chemicals, which included acetone, MEK and ethanol.

A 150m cordon was placed around the blaze which caused "significant internal damage" to the building and has also destroyed a section of the roof. No-one was injured in the blaze.

The fire has now been put out and the cordon lifted, allowing workers to return to the adjacent buildings. Fire crews have also repaired a pipe that was leaking one of the chemicals, MEK.

Incident commander Dave Richardson said: "The majority of damage was caused by the initial explosion. Officers surrounded it quickly and managed to contain it in its original location."

Linx Printing Technologies manufactures industrial marking equipment using continuous inkjet processes.