FIREFIGHTERS from Newton Abbot extinguished a blaze at the Sibelco Clay Works near Kingsteignton last night (Monday).

Two crews dealt with the fire in a storage building at the Old Chudleigh Road site.

The alarm was raised at 8.45pm with two large bay sheds of clay reported to be ablaze.

One jet was used for an hour to knock out the fire which a service spokesman said was being treated as accidental.

A spokesman for Sibelco revealed that the fire was caused by a lignitic material within the clay. The peat-like substance is known to spontaneously combust in certain circumstances, as it did last night.

The spokesman said minor damage was caused, no one was hurt and operations at the site were unaffected.

He thanked the fire service for its prompt response to the emergency and added that lignitic fires with clay were ‘not unheard of’ in the trade.