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Printing press fire delays regional daily editions

A regional daily was late hitting the shops after a fire broke out at its printing press in the early hours of the morning.

The News in Portsmouth suffered the blaze at its print centre last Thursday after waste paper got jammed on a conveyor belt system, setting some machinery alight.

Fire crews were called out after fire broke out at around 4am at The News Centre in Hilsea and caused editions of the paper to be late arriving at retailers that day.

Journalists at the regional daily were previously based at the site in Hilsea but moved to new business park premises this summer, while the print operation remained behind.

Following the incident, some smoke damage was caused and the waste paper system was left out of use.

A story in the paper about the fire said: “The alarm was raised at the printing presses of The News, in Hilsea, after some waste paper got jammed on a conveyor belt system in the press area and set some machinery alight.

“Two fire engines and a special equipment unit from Cosham and a engine and an aerial ladder platform from Southsea went to the incident at 4am this morning.

“Crews had to remove parts of the machinery and move a large refuse container in order to access the burning material. There was minor smoke damage in the printing area and the refuse paper system is out of use.”

Cosham watch manager Ian Sales, who led the operation, told the paper: “It was a safe operation. It was dealt with very swiftly considering the difficulty of access.”

The paper apologised to readers for the delays to some editions.