DOZENS of firefighters were called today to a major blaze at a chemical factory in North Yorkshire which triggered an emergency alert.

Police said smoke from the blaze at the Clariant plant in Selby travelled as far as neighbouring Barlby as a cordon of officers protected the scene and crews battled to put out the fire.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said York and Selby emergency planning departments were placed on standby in the wake of the incident.

The fire was reported at 12.30am today and six engines and six support vehicles were scrambled to a warehouse at the Bawtry Road chemical base. This team included an aerial platform and decontamination and salvage units.

Firefighters said the main chemical identified in the blaze at the former Hodgsons' Chemicals site was phenolsulphonic acid.

However, police said the substance was scattered in strong winds which battered the area again last night and there was no need for residents to be evacuated.

No firefighters or employees were injured in the fire, the spokesman confirmed.

But flames claimed a chemical site shed. Officials said the 150-year-old building was completely gutted in the blaze.

Crews left the scene just after 3am and were expected to revisit the factory later today.

Nobody from Clariant was available for comment at the time of going to press today to confirm whether the factory would be operating as usual.

A Clariant spokesman said the factory was operating normally today, although the recycling plant, the building gutted in the blaze, was out of action.

He said a diluted version of the chemical was involved in the fire and had been stored in the large shed.

The Selby site employs about 130 people.

Leeds-based Clariant is part of the £9 billion turnover Swiss Global Clariant Group. It has sites in Selby and Northallerton that specialise in coating chemicals for textiles, leather and paper.

Updated: 10:08 Wednesday, January 12, 2005