A BLAZE broke out at a Brighouse soap factory.

Plumes of smoke could be seen from across the town on Saturday evening after a fire started in a manufacturing room at Drury’s Soap factory.

The fire started at around 7pm. Crews from Brighouse, Mirfield and Cleckheaton were at the scene for around two hours battling the flames.

Brighouse crew manager Alex MacFarlene said: “The premises were unoccupied at the time, so we had to force entry into the building to tackle the blaze.

“We had to dampen down the flames before we could send any firefighters into the building, otherwise it would have been too dangerous.

“It is not a suspicious fire, but we have a fire investigation officer at the scene to find how it started.”

Dozens of local residents contacted the fire brigade after seeing smoke coming from the factory.

Fire crews managed to isolate the fire to prevent it from spreading throughout the factory.

Four firefighters later entered the building to make sure there was no danger of it starting again.

Drury Soap Works is a manufacturer of beauty products and has been based in the town for more than a century.