A HUGE pall of toxic smoke rose 1,000 feet into the sky as a ferocious blaze tore through a plastics store last night.

More than 30 metric tonnes of plastic went up in flames in the stock yard of the plastic recycling firm following a suspected arson attack.

The pall of smoke could be seen from all over the Bolton area.

Night shift workers at Stanley Polymer Processing in Nangreaves Street, Leigh, were evacuated from buildings as the fire caught hold in the yard just before 8.30pm. Around 60 firefighters from stations in Leigh, Atherton, Wigan and Cheshire converged on the scene to douse the flames. Station Officer Eddie Kearsley, from Leigh fire station, described how a huge column of smoke spiralled into the sky.

He said: "As we left the station we could see the pall of black smoke and when we got closer we could see the orange flames. It was a good stop by the lads because it was a fierce fire and it was very hot.

"We were pleased to be able to save the buildings.

"Because of the atmospheric conditions the smoke was going very high up - about 1,000 feet - before it began to spread out."

Ambulances were placed on stand-by during the emergency but no one was injured. After the blaze had been brought under control, factory workers helped fire crews to clear away some of the damaged stock, using a stacker truck.

John Murray-Smith, general manager at the factory, said: "Fortunately the firemen limited the damage to unfinished stock.

"They did a brilliant job.

"It could have been very serious if it had not been for their prompt action.

"Plastic does not self-ignite so at this point I can only assume that this was a suspected arson attack."

Fire crews remained at the factory overnight as they continued to damp down the fire damaged stock.

Fire investigation officers are probing the cause of the blaze.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.