A MACHINERY fire led to a full scale chemical alert at a North-East port tonight after fears were raised that hazardous materials could be involved.

An industrial forklift truck caught fire at Teesport, Middlesbrough, at about 5pm, sending a large plume of smoke over the River Tees and nearby roads.

Fire crews who were sent to the scene at port operator PD Ports on Tees Dock Road were told that shipping containers nearby may contain hazardous chemicals.

Cleveland Fire Brigade then withdrew its crews to a safe distance until the exact contents were known, while Cleveland Police closed surrounding roads.

Tony Suggitt, incident commander for the fire service, said staff from PD Ports sounded toxic alarms to ensure all people nearby went to safe havens or evacuated the area.

"Cleveland Emergency Plan was on standby in case there were off site implications," he said. "Site personnel quickly provided information that the containers involved did not have any hazardous materials in them.

"Following that I was able to let firefighters with breathing apparatus and hoses put out the vehicle fire."

No-one was injured, and the incident was dealt with by 8pm.

Mr Suggitt said: "We plan for the worst case scenario, and put all the things in place for the worst case scenario. In this case it didn't turn out that way, but we were prepared."

At the height of the incident eight fire crews were at the scene - two each from Grangetown, Redcar and Stranton stations and one each from Middlesbrough and Marine stations, as well as a foam unit.

Cleveland Police confirmed its officers were called to reports of a machinery fire at Teesport at about 5pm.

"A number of fire appliances attended and police closed Tees Dock Road to the A66 as a precautionary measure," said a spokeswoman.

"Cleveland Fire Brigade have extinguished the blaze, with no injuries reported to police as a result of the fire.

"Officers have now been stood down."