A FACTORY had to be evacuated after a blaze broke out in a machine. Workers at John Cotton on Huddersfield Road, Mirfield, had to stop production on the site after the fire started in a jute-making machine at about 6pm yester- day. Fire crews from Dewsbury, Mirfield, Ossett and Batley, spent about two-and-a-half hours fighting the blaze, which badly smoke-logged the building. A spokesman from Dewsbury Fire Station said the factory's sprinkler system had already activated when they arrived. John Cotton is Europe's leading manufacturer of pillows and duvets.