A fire at a Laurel Hill manufacturing plant burned for more than four hours Wednesday as firefighters from three counties sought to control the blaze.

No one was injured.

Kordsa, Inc., a manufacturing plant on Armstrong Road that produces tire cord fabric and employs 142 people, caught fire on Wednesday when insulation surrounding an oven gave out, allowing the heat of the oven to catch fire to the plant, according to James Frier, assistant fire chief for the Laurel Hill Volunteer Fire Department.

The ovens are used to cure cord manufactured by the plant.

The plant has vertical ovens, Frier said, which tends to channels the flames to the top of the facility.

Frier was uncertain the damages caused by the fire, however, he said repairs would likely be no cheap endeavor.

The plant will have to first pump out the water that is now sitting in the facility after firefighters battled the blaze, then they will have to replace the insulation and any fire damage.

Fires are not unusual at the Laurel Hill plant as the heat of the ovens increases the risk, the assistant fire chief said. He estimated a fire happens at the plant every 18 months to two years.

A fire in September 2008 at Kordsa seriously injured a firefighter, sending him to the burn unit in Chapel Hill and leaving him permanently disfigured.

Frier said the danger of that fire came from a backdraft, where air gets to the fire and allows it to spread more rapidly. The firefighters did not encounter a backdraft at this fire.

Firefighters from Laurinburg, Gibson, Wagram, Spring Hill, Queheel and Hamlet provided mutual aid to the Laurel Hill firemen. Also on scene was EMS, Rescue Squad and the Scotland County chapter of the American Red Cross.

Kordsa Global is the world's leading producer of nylon and polyester yarns, cord fabric, and single end cord and provides services to the tire reinforcement and mechanical rubber goods markets.

The company is based in Instanbul, Turkey.