Fire Occasion Events

Evacuations Follow Chemical Blaze

About 100 people were forced to leave their homes overnight because of a chemical fire at a factory in Newport, which has since been put out.

Roads around the International Rectifier plant at Tredgar Park were cordoned off and a 400m exclusion zone was set up.

The evacuation started after a fire broke out in a cylinder of saline used in the manufacture of semi-conductors.

Gwent police said the fire was put out early on Tuesday.

The valve from the burning cylinder was closed, extinguishing the blaze.

An internal investigation into the incident is to start.

All roads around the plant were reopened early on Tuesday and all offices near the factory were due to reopen later.

“The evacuation procedure went well. People understood where they were going and it was the safest thing to do. We wanted to put a perimeter of 400m around the area we considered to be dangerous – that then included the residential area which was evacuated.”

International Rectifier said full production was continuing as normal and everyone was back on site. A spokesman said the fire was isolated so it was not affecting production.