CAR workers at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant were evacuated and put up in local hotels after a gas cylinder caught fire early this morning.
Fire crews immediately set up a 200-metre exclusion zone around the plant's body shop, where the incident happened at 12.30am.
The 160 workers were evacuated, and because their personal possessions such as car keys and house keys were still on site, the company put them up in hotels while the fire service dealt with the incident.
A T&G union spokesman said: "An acetylene bottle was knocked over and somehow caught fire early this morning.
"There was an orderly evacuation and no casualties were reported.
"There won't be an immediate effect on production with the closure of the body shop, but there may be a knock-on effect further down the line."
Work in the body shop was at a standstill late this morning as a fire crew and experts from gas special-ists BOC remained at the scene.
It could be 24 hours before the all-clear is given.
A Vauxhall spokesman said the rest of the giant car plant, which employs about 4,000 staff making the new Astra model, was operating normally.
The company spokesman added: "The body shop has been evacuated but the rest of the plant is still building."
A fire service spokesman said: "An acetylene cylinder was involved in an accident. It was a potential danger because there was a flame coming out of the top.
"We then put water on it, at great risk to the firefighters - we treat acetylene like it's a bomb.
"The 200m exclusion zone is put in place for 24 hours. After that time, we go in with infra-red cameras to check for heat."
Ellesmere Port is home to the new Astra which has proved a massive hit across Europe.
The plant received £200m of investment to convert it into a "flex plant" able to build the new Vectra on the same line as the Astra.
But demand for the Astra has proved so strong that the factory now produces Astra models exclusively.
neilhodgson@liverpoolecho.co.uk
