A small blaze started in a G14 dryer, but according to Wyndeham Heron managing director Dave Emeny, everything was under control by the time the Fire Brigade arrived.

Three crews from Essex Fire Service attended the company's Colchester Road plant at 10.45am.

A statement from the brigade said: "Firefighters used one hose reel to tackle a fire in a press-drying machine. This incident was under control by 11.00am."

Some maintenance work now needs to be carried out on the dryer and Wyndeham outsourced several covers to its Impact site.

Emeny said: "It was not a big crisis, everything was taken care of. Something in the dryer caught fire, which is not very common.

"We had it under control, but as soon as you have a fire, alarms start going off and suddenly fire engines start turning up."