Smouldering grain saw 11 fire crews despatched to Stowmarket malt factory Muntons.

Suffolk fire and rescue service were called to reports of a fire at the factory at Cedars Malting, in Needham Road on the outskirts of the town after staff raised the alarm around 6am.

Firefighters arrived to discover a 28m high dryer with smouldering grain inside.

Fire crews were scaled back but a number remain at the scene to ensure the fire was extinguished.

Nigel Davies, managing and sustainability director at Muntons, said the fire was small in relation to the size of the factory.

He said: "The fire was caused by some smouldering grain but we don't know the root cause of it yet.

"There is a built-in water dousing system, so had it been anything bigger that would have gone off.

"As it didn't, we know that the fire is relatively small.

"However, because of what we are and the size of the operation here there is a set number of eight to 10 fire appliances sent here automatically any time there is an incident.

"This is a relatively quiet time of year and it will make no difference to production."

There are currently 50,000 tonnes of grain stored on site, with the plant dealing with a total of 130,000 tonnes every year.

The factory produces malt for a range of uses, including the honeycomb centre of Maltesers.

Nine fire crews were called to a similar fire at the factory in September last year.