A HUGE fire at a food factory near Selby is being considered suspicious, police have confirmed.
Officers from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service are still at the scene of the Selby Salads plant in Camblesforth, but said the dangerous state of the building is hampering their investigation, as they have not yet been able to go into the building.
They are still hopeful of getting an indication today of the cause, however, a fire service spokesman said.
He also said firefighters were still damping down hotspots in the building.
In the last few minutes, North Yorkshire Police have confirmed they are treating the blaze, which destroyed a warehouse and an office building on the site, as suspicious, and have appealed for anyone who witnessed the fire to contact them on 101.
The fire service originally said the fire was at the site of English Village Salads, which closed its Camblesforth operation in 2012, but its parent company Bakkavor said today that the fire was on the neighbouring Selby Salads site.
Picture by @melissa_speight on twitter
Firefighters from Selby, Tadcaster, York, Snaith, Goole, Howden and Thorne, along with the aerial ladder platform from Huntington, were deployed to tackle the blaze, which was reported at 6.32pm.
A North Yorkhire Fire & Rescue Service man said the fire was brought unfer control by just before 8.30pm, with a Selby crew remaining behind to continue damping down.
He said police secured the site overnight and two fire investigation officers were travelling to the scene this morning to begin a probe into the cause of the blaze.
Picture: Gary Foster for The Press
Picture: Gary Foster for The Press
Local residents posted several photos and video clips on twitter:
Massive fire at drax power station pic.twitter.com/Qr2hr3QuB7
— Andrew Chadwick (@500af7d2fd8145d) September 20, 2015
Fierce fire near #Drax Power Station pic.twitter.com/QQ2dj3d9we
— David Leake MNAEA (@Housesetc) September 20, 2015
@yorkpress camblesforth village salads is on fire pic.twitter.com/GdfJmjORf2
— George Warrington (@camytiger13) September 20, 2015
Emergency services have arrived #camblesforthsaladfactory #Camblesforth #fire #York #northyorkshire pic.twitter.com/Q7UsXDG1uI
— Melissa Speight (@melissa_speight) September 20, 2015
Video from about an hour ago #camblesforthsaladfactory #Camblesforth #fire #York #northyorkshire pic.twitter.com/tqLBs1lF88
— Melissa Speight (@melissa_speight) September 20, 2015
Anyone with information which could assist the investigation into the blaze should phone North Yorkshire Police on 101, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
