DOZENS of firefighters battled a huge blaze at a factory at Membury Airfield this morning (Thursday).
And a special 'robot' from London was rushed to the area to help with the operation.
Crews from Lambourn, Hungerford, Newbury, Wiltshire, the water bowser from Pangbourne, a specialist chemical incident unit and a command and control centre were at the scene since just after 4am
A factory, measuring 80m by 40m, was well alight when they arrived and contains dangerous acetylene cylinders.
As a precaution a 200m cordon was put in place and firefighters spent all day cooling the area.
Robots used in the London July 7 bombings were sent into the Aviation Enterprises Ltd factory to check the condition of unexploded acetylene tanks.
The area was cordoned off within a 200m range, due to possible dangers posed by three highly flammable and potentially explosive cylinders within the 80m by 40m building, which was destroyed in the fire.
“We have to treat them as unexploded bombs,” said group manager for the service, Neil Carter of the cylinders, containing acetylene, argon gas and oxygen.
The two remotely controlled robots were sent into the smouldering building on Thursday morning to locate and determine the temperature of the cylinders, using thermal imaging cameras, monitored on a CCTV system in a nearby van.
Mr Carter said fumes from the fire had been assessed and were not causing a danger in the area.
“They are no greater hazard than a normal fire” he said.
Neighbouring properties, which were “fortunately remote” he added, had been informed during the early stages of the fire.
Owner of Aviation Enterprises, Angus Fleming, who was at the scene, said he was too devastated to talk, but wanted to thank his neighbours, whom he said had all been “very supportive.”
Production manager of the company, David Cook, who was also at the scene, said the entire company was “devastated” by the fire: “The company has been running for 30 years,” he said, adding all 15 employees of the company had been informed.
Aviation Enterprises Ltd is a specialist design, development and manufacturing organisation, specialising in the light aviation industry. Current productions included the QR5 quiet revolution windturbine.
Known as GHOST (gas cylinder hazardous operations scientific and technical support), the robots - worth tens of thousands of pounds each - were provided by QinetiQ who also provided the first bomb disposal robots for the British army, 30 years ago.
Firecrews eventually left the scene at 9am on Friday morning, 29 hous after getting the first call.
An investigation into the cause of the blaze will now begin.

Click on the link above to see the robots in action and a video interview with fire crews.