A CHARITY'S lifeline business is in the balance in the aftermath of a huge blaze in Northallerton.

The Chopsticks organisation is in desperate need of help as its supply of scrap wood was hit by the fire at North Yorkshire Timber on Friday night.

The charity employs people with learning difficulties to make packaged kindling wood and has built the work into a thriving operation.

But the inferno at Springwell Lane, which gutted a large warehouse and destroyed its contents, could put that at risk.

At the height of the blaze, 40 people were evacuated from their homes. At one point walls exploded as up to 70 firefighters fought the flames.

Now both North Yorkshire Timber and Chopsticks are counting the cost.

The charity's assistant manager, Mike Palfreman, said the firm previously supplied 95pc of Chopsticks' scrap timber. The two concerns are neighbours.

"It has been a convenient arrangement, as they just fork-lifted their waste timber to us," he said. "But we are now faced - at approaching our busiest time of year - with the loss of our supply of scrap for the kindling packs."

Mr Palfreman appealed to local firms to help out.

"We used to get calls from firms who offered us pallets they no longer needed. But our supply from NYT was clean wood and easier to process. So we had to turn offers down," he said. "But now we would be keen to take any pallets firms don't need."

The worst case scenario was that the charity could fold, because it relies on income from the kindling work to survive.

"This is real work that we do and we have a good turnover from it," said Mr Palfreman. "We really need help now."

He said the BT depot in Northallerton had always supported Chopsticks with scrap timber, but not enough to keep the operation going. Anyone who can help can call Mr Palfreman on 01609 777292.

As clean-up work went on at North Yorkshire Timber, a spokesman said the jobs of the 60 employees were safe.

Loss adjustors were taking tenders for demolition of the warehouse and the firm was looking for temporary premises to set up a collection centre and retail showroom for the next six to 12 months.

Springwell Lane will be used as a distribution point in the meantime. Long-term, the firm aims to return to the site.

Marketing spokesman Tom Flanagan said about 15-20pc of stock had been damaged by the fire. Through use of the firm's other sites, he expected trading levels to be back to normal within two or three weeks.

Investigations into the cause of the blaze have been going on all week and Mr Flanagan said it was thought the fire had started towards the rear of the warehouse where it would have been hard to spot.

"No actual cause has so far been identified," he said.

The fire broke out shortly before midnight on Friday. Crews from a dozen fire appliances prevented the blaze spreading to the yard's outdoor timber stores and nearby properties and started scaling down the operation by around 3am.

A fire service spokesman said that although some corrugated asbestos had been on fire, this did not pose a danger.

Mr Flanagan confirmed the firm would not be able to supply as much scrap timber to Chopsticks for the time being. But he pledged full support to the charity's appeal for help.

He said: "We will put our weight behind the appeal. We have some packs of wood which are not usable and Chopsticks can have those."

He added the firm would ask customers to help the appeal.