FIREFIGHTERS were called to a Kidderminster carpet factory after 25 litres of acid spilled from a split container.

Brintons Factory number six site on Stourport Road was evacuated last Thursday night after a container holding 25 litres of peroxyotic acid split and filled a warehouse with pungent fumes.

Teams of firefighters wearing protective chemical clothing and breathing apparatus were called to the building at 9.30pm after a worker in the latexing department detected the odour and notified management.

Crews from Kidderminster, Stourport, Bewdley, Bromsgrove and Droitwich contained the spillage of the chemical, used to clean latex storage tanks, by dropping the split container into a special plastic drum.

Brintons secretary and director Eddie Gardiner said the the seam in the base of a container had failed.

"An employee detected an odour and notified the management who immediately evacuated the few personnel in the area and commenced an investigation," he said.

He said production had returned to normal by Friday and the Environment Agency was satisfied everything was handled in an acceptable manner. Nobody was injured.