AN ADHESIVES factory has opened for business — the day after a huge fire broke out in the building.

Paul Armitt, managing director of Itac Ltd, praised fire crews for tackling and containing the fire yesterday and said his staff showed great professionalism in the way they acted.

Emergency services were called to the factory at Bankfield Mills, Stoneclough, just after 11am when the fire broke out during the production process of one of the firm's products.

The fire was tackled within a quarter-of-an-hour using foam but crews stayed on the scene dampening down to ensure there were no "hotspots".

A member of staff suffered burns on his back and was airlifted to Wythenshawe Hospital while another was treated for shock at the scene.

Mr Armitt said: "I went to visit him in hospital and he was in good spirits, he was walking and we went outside.

"He will be assessed today and we will know more, but he was smiling.

"I would like to complement the staff for their professionalism when the fire broke out, we have drills and the training was put into action, and I would like to complement the fire service for doing a great job and mitigating the damage."

The fire service left the premises this morning and the firm is assessing the damage and the cost.

Mr Armitt said: "Once the situation was fully appraised the incident was brought quickly under control and any potential hazards and environmental impacts were managed in the appropriate manner.

"Management personnel are working with the relevant authorities to investigate the cause of the incident which is still unknown at this time.

"We will maintain regular communication with all our customers, suppliers and our local community as and when information becomes available.

"We will endeavour to keep any disruption to a minimum and would like to thank all our business partners for their support and understanding at this time."

Although the firm says production facilities will be restricted in the short-term, Mr Armitt says "every effort will be made to mitigate any disruption to our customers".

He added: "We will maintain regular communication with all our customers, suppliers and the local community as and when information becomes available.

"We will endeavour to keep any disruption to a minimum and would like to thank all our business partners for their support and understanding at this time."