EIGHT fire engines were called to an industrial site on the outskirts of Middlewich this evening to tackle a fire inside an office block. 

The blaze started just after 5.40pm at the Flowcrete site off Booth Lane in Moston. 

The fire was finally put out just after 9.50pm but the crew has remained on site. 

Lynsey Mcvay, group manager at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "When we arrived there was no immediate sign of fire, but on further investigation there was some smoke, so we made an entrance. 

"There was a fire within the premises, in an administrative block, which unfortunately had started coming through the roof, so we requested further resources. 

"An aerial ladder platform came to allow us better access to the roof. As of now we are unsure of the cause of the fire but it is not thought to be suspicious. Further investigations are now taking place."

Paramedics were on standby at the site, although no one was in the building at the time of the fire and no one has been injured and police attended to close nearby roads.

An employee of Flowcrete, a specialist industrial flooring manufacturer, told the Guardian that the company employs around 60 people on its Moston site and that around half of these will be affected by the fire and have to move to another part of the site temporarily. 

The site is split into both warehouses and offices, and part of the administrative building is also hired out by musicians as a practice room. 

They also said that the office block is fitted with fire doors, which may have helped to stop the flames spreading to other parts of the building. 

The crews tackling the fire wore breathing apparatus as they worked to stop the fire from spreading to nearby buildings and keep it contained.

Firefighters went onto a flat roof of an adjacent part of the building to vent the smoke while the crew in the ladder platform fought the fire with a jet from above. 

As crews got the fire under control the number of fire engines at the scene was reduced to six, which were still on the scene at 10pm.  

Two firefighters in breathing apparatus then entered the premises to assist in 'salvage operations'.