FIRE crews and staff have been praised for their actions which limited the damage when a large blaze broke out at a landmark power station.

Firefighters worked in difficult conditions when an absorber tower at the Ferrybridge C power station beside the junction of the M62 and A1 caught light at 2pm yesterday.

The blaze was serious enough to put two 490MW generating units out of action for some months, operator SSE has said. No-one was injured.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service deputy chief fire officer Steve Beckley said the damage was reduced due to the skills of fire crews, greatly helped by power station employees.

He said: "I would like to praise our crews for their rapid actions in dealing with the fire safely and effectively.

"Their knowledge of the site, gained from extensive planning and training, ensured the fire did not spread to surrounding buildings and there were no injuries.

"I must also commend power station management and staff, who were incredibly efficient and enabled our crews to deal with the incident effectively.

"We worked well with police and ambulance and, all in all, it was a successful multi-agency effort."

An investigation into the cause of the blaze is currently under way.

The National Grid said the loss of input from Ferrybridge will be factored into its winter plans.

An SSE spokesman said: "Ferrybridge staff are working closely with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and other emergency services today to assess what has happened and to determine next steps."