ABOUT 30 bakery workers face an uncertain future after fire gutted their premises yesterday afternoon.

Managers at the Tindale and Stanton bakery are assessing the cost after the company's bread plant on the Hobson Industrial Estate, at Burnopfield, near Stanley, County Durham, burnt to the ground yesterday.

It took 30 firefighters to contain the fire and stop it spreading to a larger pie-making plant next door, where 270 people are employed.

It is estimated the repair bill could reach £1m, and one of the firm's directors yesterday said it was unclear if staff would be able to return to work.

The blaze broke out at about 2pm in an oven. All staff were safely evacuated after a security guard raised the alarm. Six fire crews, some using ladders, fought for three hours to stop the fire spreading.

Police closed the A692 - the main road from Consett to Gateshead - as acrid smoke poured across the road towards Hobson Golf Club.

Tindale and Stanton's finance director, David Walker, said: "There has been a problem in an oven, exactly what we are not sure, but it has caught fire.

"The pie plant is untouched, but the bread plant has been burnt down. At present, we do not know the extent of the damage, somewhere between £100,000 and £1m.

"In the short term, we will be supplying our customers by using products from other local bakers, so it will be pretty much business as usual and, in the medium-term, we will have to look at replacing the bread plant."

Mr Walker said it was unclear how the fire would affect the plant's staff, who were sent home yesterday.

He said: "At the moment, we do not know. We would hope to retain them in some way in other parts of the business."

Durham and Darlington Fire Brigade's operations manager, John Robson, said the damage could have been significantly worse.

He said: "Fire personnel have worked very hard for several hours and have done a good job putting a water curtain up, which protected the rest of the factory, and the firm did a good job getting people out."