The fire was the latter of two simultaneous incidents reported at 6.25am and 6.45am yesterday (1 March) morning, with a fire at Bowmill Metal Treatments being the first port of call.

More than 100 firefighters battled the two blazes, 77 of whom were called in to handle the Southern Binders' fire. Additional support was also reportedly called in from various Hampshire fire stations with 15 fire engines arriving at the scene.

No one has been reported hurt during either blaze, both of which were extinguished by 8.40am. However, Southern Binders is understood to have suffered 30% damage to its contents.

Charles Jarrold, managing director of Southernprint, said: "The fire took out two of our three perfect binding machines, although our newest Muller Martini Corona line remains unaffected. We believe we can continue to satisfy our customer's demands for stitching and printing, but we are looking into outsourcing some of our binding services.

"We are still assessing the full extent of the blaze, but a full contingency plan was drawn up yesterday. It is currently unclear how long the affected equipment will be out for. At the moment, an electrical fault on one of our binding machines is being looked at as a possible cause."

A spokesperson for Dorset Fire and Rescue said: "The fire was a fairly large one, stretching resources to their full extent. Some 30% of the plant's contents were affected, but we have no specific information on what was affected."