THE fire that ripped through a paper mill in Carrington has finally been extinguished – and thankfully no-one has been hurt.

A huge blaze broke out in the recovered paper yard at the Saica Paper Mill yesterday, Thursday June 23, at around 4pm.

The fire ravaged 400 tonnes of paper and cardboard and crew from all over Greater Manchester scrambled to the scene.

Firefighters tackled the blaze and the incident carried through to today, Friday.

Crews were still at the site almost 24 hours later, ensuring no heat remained in the stacks and dampening down the smouldering debris.

A spokesperson for Saica Paper said: “We are still investigating the exact cause of the fire but it was instantly spotted by state-of-the-art thermal imaging cameras which constantly scan the paper yard looking for areas of unusual heat.

“The safety protocols saw the immediate deployment of the on-site Saica response team who tackled the blaze using specialist fire-fighting equipment. The team alerted the fire service who were on the site within minutes. A total of eight appliances attended the scene.

“Production at the factory was halted briefly to allow for all water used during the paper recycling process to be diverted to tackle the fire and non-essential personnel were evacuated.

“The blaze was swiftly contained and fire service personnel remained on site for a number of hours to ensure no further fires could break out.

“No injury to personnel or damage to property was sustained as a result of the fire and a small amount of recovered paper – around 200 tonnes – was damaged in the fire.

“An investigation into the cause of the fire is being carried out.”