A FIRE badly damaged the roof at a Mirfield firm.

The blaze broke out in a rubber moulding machine at Edwards and Jones on Britannia Mills, Mirfield, at 4am today.

Staff who were working at the time tried in vain to fight the flames with fire extinguishers, but were forced back by the heat and smoke. No-one was hurt.

Firefighters were called in from Mirfield, Dewsbury and Batley to the company which makes water process equipment.

The fire had taken a firm hold in the roof above the machine and an aerial appliance from Huddersfield poured water on to it from above.

Workers were evacuated and the company's production line remained shut down early today.

Damage was confined to the machine and the roof, but salvage teams were drafted in to stop water that had mixed with machine oil from getting into the nearby Calder And Hebble Navigation Canal.