SIX fire engines were called to a factory blaze in which 33 workers were evacuated.

Darchem Engineering, in Stillington, east Cleveland, is linked to Cleveland Fire Brigade by automatic alarms.

When a ventilation fan burst into flames, 25 firefighters were called to the scene, at about 6pm on Monday.

They were at the factory for more than an hour and had to cut away part of the roof to see if the blaze had spread.

Stockton station manager Peter Dix said: "The initial fire was quite intense, but it was quickly brought under control.

"There are a lot of false ceilings and a cavity roof at the factory, and we spent a lot of time searching the area for other hotspots.

"We think is was an electrical fault with the fan, which is part of the ventilation system in the workshop."

There were three people working near where the fire started. They were evacuated with 30 other workers.

The fire damaged 45sq metres of the single-storey building and 30sq metres of the roof had to be cut away.

Smoke damaged a further 2,000sq metres, including office areas.

Company spokesman John Gagg said: "It was a small fire which broke out in the middle of the factory.

"The fire brigade responded extremely quickly.

"We are still to assess the cost of the damage, but everyone was back at work as normal the following day."

The fire came only days after Darchem was bought by a US firm in a £68m deal.