A major emergency operation was scrambled in the early hours of Saturday morning when a blaze broke out at a £10 million abattoir site in Brechin.
Firefighters arrived to find two industrial units well alight after the alarm was raised at 4.06am at the newly-refurbished abattoir on Montrose Road.
A total of 12 appliances including height and special support vehicles responded to the incident which involved more than 40 firefighters who were using high-powered hoses to bring the fire under control.
The area was evacuated and police kept people back from the site.
The fire was eventually put out by lunchtime although firefighters remained for most of the day to damp down hot spots.
Police said no one was injured as the premises were closed at the time but the fire is currently being treated as unexplained.
The initial indications are that the pig production line has been unaffected by the fire and the main damage is to a staff canteen, offices and a storage shed.
Scottish Pig Producers (SPP) chief executive, Andy McGowan said police and fire services still have control of the site and will be investigating the blaze over the weekend.
In the meantime SPP are to make alternative arrangements to process around 6,000 pigs a week at Tulip plants further south.
There was a significant presence of emergency services personnel at the site on Saturday as enquiries continued.
Police Scotland said it will be working closely with all relevant partners including Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to establish the circumstances.
Detective Inspector Scott Fotheringham said: “This has been an extensive fire but thankfully, as the premises was shut, no one has been injured.”
He urged anyone with information about the incident to call police.
Properties in the surrounding area including Montrose Street, Drumachlie Loan and Dundas Park experienced low water pressure and in some cases no water at all while firefighters hooked up to the hydrant to tap into the water supply.
Quality Pork Limited (QPL), the company formed by a collaboration between pig farmers and the major processor Tulip Ltd, bought the Brechin site in 2014 from AP Jess.
Since then the facility has benefited from around £10 million in investment from a combination of funding from private investors and a grant of £2.7 million from the Scottish Government Food Processing, Marketing and Collaboration scheme.
The refurbished abattoir was officially opened in September and improvements included a new gas stunning system, new lorry wash facilities, improved drains and walling works in the dressing line and a new refrigeration system.
Employment more than doubled to 58 staff, making it one of the largest employers in Angus and the QPL abattoir has the capacity to kill 7,500 pigs and 300 sows every week.
The plant slaughters and processes the pigs into primal cuts, with the pork then delivered to Tulip Ltd’s network of sites to be further processed into a wide variety of food products, before being supplied to a range of retail and wholesale customers across the UK.
The original abattoir at the Brechin site was built in 1982.
