ENVIRONMENT protection experts have been in action to combat any possible threat of pollution from chemicals following a fire in Chirk this morning.

Fire crews were called to tackle an incident at the Kronospan site which was reported shortly after 6am. A spokeswoman for North Wales Fire Service said the call-out involved an industrial dryer. Fire fighters from Chirk, Llangollen, Wrexham and Deeside attended together with the aerial ladder platform

Environment Agency Wales officers attended the plant later in the day to oversee the run off of fire water and make sure it does not pollute nearby watercourses.

An agency spokesman said Kronospan is a major manufacturer of fibreboard and chipboard which uses large volumes of formaldehyde in the manufacturing process.

The agency was monitoring the nearby stream, Afon Bradley, for formaldehyde to determine if there were any environmental impacts.

The spokesman added firewater was being safely discharged into the sewer system and also being contained within the site lagoons.

A spokesman for Kronospan described the fire as not serious in nature and confined to one area. Most of the production at the plant had been able to continue and the site expected to be back to usual capacity later today.