FIREFIGHTERS from across Worcestershire and Herefordshire battled for more than four hours to contain a blaze at cider-making giant Bulmers Hereford factory.

The fire - in a drier used for heating the pomace, or residue from the pressed apples - at the plant on Whitecross Road, was reported at 11.28pm last night, and three fire engines from Hereford initially attended the scene.

Six tonnes of pomace were well alight together with a quantity of ducting and further assistance was called for at 12.50am this morning.

A further two fire crews from Hereford along with engines from Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye, the environmental protection unit from Evesham, Droitwich's incident support unit and Malvern's command unit subsequently attended the scene.

The fire was under control by 3.25am but two engines remained on the scene throughout the morning to monitor the situation. One crew is now currently on the scene.

Sub officer Adrian Smart described the fire as being "very intense" but said it was spotted relatively quickly by labourers carrying out work on the drier at the time.

"It was very hot because obviously pomace does burn quite well when it's dried as it's a granulated substance," he added.

"It did break through the heat shield on the insulation layer at one stage though."

David Jones, spokesman for Bulmers' parent company Scottish and Newcastle, said the drier - one of two on site - would be temporarily out of use, but production would not be affected.