A SEVERE blaze broke out at a Brierley Hill factory this morning (Friday, March 3).

Emergency services were alerted to the fire at Petford Mouldings, in Station Drive, at about 2.19am.

West Midlands Fire Service sent two engines from Brierley Hill and Stourbridge stations to deal with the blaze.

The incident involved a large number of pallets and stillages - measuring 15m by 15m - on fire behind the Breener Industrial Estate unit.

While the firefighters were making good progress on putting out the flames, one of stillages - a five metre square metal container - fell into the nearby canal, ending up six inches below the surface of the water.

A representative from the Canal & River Trust was also asked to attend the scene as some of the water the crews were using was running back into the canal.

The crews were able to extinguish the fire, and also alerted the Environment Agency to make sure the incident had not had an effect on the natural area.