STAFF were evacuated for an hour after a fire broke out at photo-processing labs in Newton Abbot early today (tues).

An electrical fault is thought to have caused the blaze, which affected a photographic printing machine on the ground floor at Harrier’s premises in Brunel Road.

Firefighters were alerted at 3.45am to deal with the incident.

Damage was confined to the machine with minor smoke damage reported around the scene.

Four sets of breathing gear were worn as firefighters used dry powder extinguishers, two hosereels and a safety jet to tackle the fire. A ventilation fan was used to clear smoke.A spokeswoman for the company said this afternoon: ‘In the early hours of this morning Harrier LLC experienced a small fire on one piece of equipment on our site at Brunel Road.‘The fire brigade attended within moments and the fire was contained with minimal damage to the equipment.’She added: ‘All of the employees were evacuated safely and business was returned to normal shortly after.’