TWO people were evacuated from nearby homes as a precaution when a fire broke out at a laundry service in Pontypool in the early hours of this morning.

Fire crews were called to a single storey building of Snow White Laundries on Clarence Corner, which was well alight just before 6am this morning.

Crews from Abersychan, New Inn, Cwmbran and Abercarn tackled the blaze using breathing equipment and hose reel jets.

The fire has now been extinguished. Crews remain at the scene and are damping down.

Gwent Police closed Clarence Road to traffic which was re-opened at 8.30am. No injuries were reported.

 

***UPDATE***

A nearby resident, Jean Sansom, who witnessed the fire from her flat, said the fire was massive.

Police are said to remain at the scene.

 

***UPDATE***

The fire sevice has said the fire was 50 metres by 30 metres.

 

***UPDATE***

 

The fire service has said the fire was accidental but the cause is "yet to be determind".

A fire investigations team will be on site today to try to find out where on the site and why the fire started.

This has not been possible so far due to the extent of the damage, which they say is "substantial".

 

***UPDATE***

Our reporter kath Skellon is at the scene.

She has been told Snow White Laundries is a family business which has been operating at the Clarence Corner facility since the late 70s.

One of the directors is Terrence Milling.

He said a police car was driving by when the officer saw it was alight in early hours, and called the fire service.

They alerted his nephew and Mr Milling arrived at 6.30am, by when - he added - it was "well ablaze"

"The flames were about six ft to eight ft from the roof," he said.

The roof is partially destroyed, but the structure of the building remains in place.

A third of the laundry business has been affected. It contains thousands of linen and laundry cages, many of which have been burnt.

No staff were on site at the time

The company is said to be hoping to operate from another facility.

***UPDATE***

Director Mr Milling said there are three bays on the Snow White premises, but that only the loading bay has been affected by the fire.
“Customers should not notice any effect as normal service will resume from our Cardiff premises," he added.

A spokeswoman for Snow White Laundries Ltd also said:
“There has been damage to the linen sorting area but our services are fully functional because we have a laundry service in Cardiff where we will be operating for customers as usual.”
She added: “Whilst this is a setback it is business as usual. We want to thank our customers for the support they have shown.”