9 December 2011 Last updated at 07:43 ET

Boys and Boden Welshpool fire damage costs put at £1m

A large fire at a builders' merchants in Powys has caused damage costing about £1m.

The blaze at Boys and Boden in Welshpool happened on Tuesday, and was the second at the business in five months.

The firm's managing director said the blaze started in a building making staircases and five machines costing £200,000 each had been damaged.

He said he hoped delays to orders would be kept to a minimum.

The alarm was raised shortly before 14:00 GMT on Tuesday. There were no injuries to staff.

The fire was reported in an extractor fan, but spread and led to the partial collapse of the building where the staircases are made.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service sent six fire engines and an aerial platform to the scene in Mill Lane.

Boys and Boden managing director Dean Hammond said the cost of the damage had been put at about £1m so far.

"I'm gutted," he said. "The insurance company has allowed for the replacement of all the machines at the moment, but we might be able to get two going.

"The fire might have been caused by a fan overheating and it took out a building full of machines. It's only 10% of the total area of our site.

"We are hoping that we can get two machines running 24 hours a day for seven days and that will deal with the backlog of orders."

It is the second fire at the builders' merchants in five months.

In July, five fire engines were called to the company's premises when there was a blaze in the eaves of a building.

Boys and Boys was founded in 1895, and employs about 160 staff across four sites.