A FIRE broke out in the basement of Kimberly-Clark paper mill in Northfleet on Monday night.

At around 8.30pm Thames-side firefighters were called to the factory in Crete Hall Road after a machine producing Andrex toilet rolls overheated and caused smoke to pour out of the pipes.

However, the fire was not serious and within three hours the fire crews were satisfied it was safe.

Steve Monks, manager of Kimberly-Clark, said: "It was not a major fire and no one was at risk, it was just some friction on the paper machine."

He added that the building had suffered no damage and there was minimal disruption to production with most machinery back up and running by 1am.

The mill was devastated by an inferno in July 2004. The blaze at the company's distribution centre was one of the biggest ever seen in Kent at the time with 120 firefighters and 15 pumps attending at its height.