FIREFIGHTERS from all over the county were called to the Chippenham Community Hospital this afternoon after a chemical scare forced part of the building to close.

The chemical, which is used to clean endoscopic tools, such as tiny cameras inserted through the nose or mouth, was spilt on a lower ground floor of the hospital shortly before 4pm.

Staff immediately dialled 999 and two fire crews from Chippenham, two from Corsham, a chemical response appliance from Swindon and an incident response appliance from Devizes rushed to the scene.

Director of Wiltshire Community Health Services Jenny Barker was on site at the time of the incident.

She said: "We had a minor incident though it looks much bigger than it was.

"We had a spillage of a substance we use to disinfect equipment and that requires very careful handling.

"We did exactly what we should have done as a hospital and called the fire brigade straight away.

"There was no harm to patients and no harm to any of our staff.

"The fire brigade has now removed the substance and the broken container and it will be put into safe storage until tomorrow when it will be properly disposed of."

Firemen had to use special chemical suits before entering the hospital and were then hosed off as soon as they left the building.

The crews were at the hospital until shortly before 6pm when the area where the spillage happened was re-opened.

Mark Forrester was trying to get into the hospital for an outpatients appointment.

He said: "I thought at first it was the bomb squad until I saw the firemen coming out in those funny suits.

"I think it shows the hospital deal with these things in the right way and take no chances."