COUNCIL bosses are to launch an investigation after a fire at Darlington's Dolphin Centre led to hundreds of people being evacuated yesterday.

A toilet roll holder is understood to have been deliberately set alight.

Firefighters used breathing apparatus to tackle the fire, which was confined to a lavatory cubicle.

They spent about an hour ventilating the building to get rid of the thick black smoke that had built up inside.

More than a hundred people who were inside the building at the time of the fire alert were led to safety.

Council spokesman Steve Jones said: "There will be an investigation to try to find out what happened. We have evacuation procedures in place for things like this so there was no panic and the staff had things under control."