Firefighters remain at the scene of a blaze which destroyed a bed factory on a Westbury industrial estate yesterday afternoon.

The blaze broke out at the Sleepcraft factory on the Brook Lane Industrial Estate following an explosion at about 3pm.

Three people, two men and a woman, who were in the factory at the time managed to evacuate before the fire took hold.

At the peak of the operation there were 35 firefighters involved, with five fire appliances, two water carriers, an aerial unit from Salisbury and an incident control unit from Devizes.

By 5.40pm, crews began to leave the scene, with two fire engines remaining by 8pm.

At midnight, just a crew from Chippenham were left to monitor the fire overnight. They were relieved by a crew from Warminster at 6am, who are still there now trying to dampen down small pockets of fire.

A fire investigation officer is on his way to the factory to help establish what caused the explosion, which was heard throughout the industrial estate.

The fire was in an industrial unit used to store oak furniture.

Eyewitness Mike Greatwood, who owns Rapid Recovery Ltd, which is opposite the factory, described hearing the explosion.

"There was a terrific bang and stuff was flying into the air," he said.

Mr Greatwood said he had helped to move cars parked outside the factory, including a Mercedes thought to belong to the factory owner.

Staff at Westbury Motor Auctions, which is nearby, also heard the explosion, which one likened to guns being fired on Salisbury Plain.

She said: "I was sat in my office and thought someone had fallen upstairs.

"One of our guys was out in the yard and he almost hit the floor.

"There was a bit of an eerie silence after the explosion. The whole estate rang for ambulances."