Ford factory evacuated during blaze

DOZENS of firefighters have tackled a blaze at Ford’s Bridgend Engine Plant.

Crews from Bridgend, Kenfig Hill, Pencoed and Cowbridge were called at 7pm on Monday.

Bridgend Watch manager Mark Reynolds said liquid waste products “self heated and spontaneously ignited”, causing a large building at the rear of the plant to become “fully smoke logged”.

He said: “The whole plant was evacuated while the fire service dealt with the fire.”

Breathing apparatus was used by firefighters, who spent two hours tackling the blaze.

“There wasn’t an awful lot of damage but the whole building was smoke logged and crews had trouble locating the fire due to the size of the building,” said Mr Reynolds.

“It was very hot and difficult conditions for the crews in there.”

He added that South Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s fire safety department will now carry out a follow-up visit with plant management to discuss measures to prevent a similar incident occurring again.

The plant currently employs around 1,760 people making two engines.

But in February it was reported that more than 1,000 jobs could go at the plant when Jaguar Land Rover ends its engine production in 2018 and production of the Ford Sigma engine is due to stop in 2019-2020.

Investment in a new engine, Dragon, has been cut, meaning fewer staff will be needed.

A Ford document leaked earlier this year stated overtime levels, which are double that of its other plant in Dagenham, were adding 6% to the costs of engines produced at the factory.

A Ford spokeswoman said on Monday they had nothing to add at this stage of the investigation.