EIGHT fire engines were called to a fire at a trophy factory on Saturday.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service was alerted at 12.47pm when members of the public saw smoke coming from the R&D Trophy Supplies factory in Cornwallis Road, Maidstone.

Damage was limited to a warehouse area where the fire started, but the first floor and some of the upper floor of the building was also smoke logged.

The building contained plastics, packaging materials and polystyrene. No-one was inside at the time.

Leading Firefighter Chris Puxted, of Green Watch at Maidstone, said: "Five breathing apparatus crews were used on the job. It was making sure that the fire didn’t spread to the remainder of the property.

"It was very awkward for the crews to get round the shelving system inside. It was very hard to get to the seat of the fire, but it was controlled throughout."

Eyewitness Becky Withnall, 33, of Bower Street, said: "We were standing in the back garden, and we could smell the smoke. I thought someone was having a bonfire, but when we looked over the back gate, it wasn’t a bonfire.

"We called the fire brigade - I think everybody did."

Another resident of Bower Street, who asked not to be named, said: "We were just over in the allotment and smelt the smoke. I came round and saw the smoke coming out of the roof."

Cornwallis Road was closed while the incident was being dealt with.

Maidstone firefighters left the incident at 3.30pm, although other crews remained to damp down the building.

Police and firefighters are investigating the cause of the blaze.