A FELT manufacturers was left badly damaged after a blaze suspected to have been caused by faulty machinery.

The blaze took hold of the single storey mill in Spring Gardens Road in Colne at 3.15pm today.

Some 16 workers at the Janesville Acoustics site evacuated the building before firefighters.

At its peak 20 firefighters tackled the blaze in the 100 by 50 square foot building.

The fire was not extinguished until around 7pm.

It is believed that the blaze was caused by a fault in one of the machines, although further investigations will be carried out.

Around 100 tones of felt were destroyed and firefighters said they would be at the scene for the next 24 hours to ensure the building is safe.

A specialist Hazardous Material Unit was used to pump water out in a bid to prevent contamination of a nearby river.

Station manager Dave Jackson, of Burnley fire station said: "The fire was in one of the machines inside the building.

"The machine makes felt into acoustic boarding for vehicles and oven processes.

"The dry felt then caught fire which then spread into a separate part which caused a fire in a different machine.

"This then spread in a baled storage area.

"There was a reasonably severe fire in the baled storage area which we had to tackle as well as the machine fire."

Crew manager Mark Woodward, of Nelson fire station, added: "When we arrived the employees had evacuated the mill.

"We were faced with a well established fire in the felt making machinery."

Nobody from the company was available for comment at the scene tonight.