SALISBURY — A small fire broke out at Gildan Yarns on Tuesday as workers returned from a short holiday break.

According to the South Salisbury Fire Department, a machine caught fire when workers at the Heilig Road plant turned it on Tuesday afternoon.

“We’ve had bigger fires there before,” said Cory Orbison, retired fire chief of the South Salisbury department.

Orbison said Gildan had a short delay in operations Tuesday morning as Duke Energy turned power back on. The company didn’t fully start operations until about 10:30 a.m.

“Sometime during the startup process, they just had a little spark from something,” Orbison said.

Firefighters received the call at 1:02 p.m. A thin column of white smoke was visible from Old Concord Road.

The fire damage was minor and contained to one of the company’s filter houses, Orbison said. No one was injured.

The South Salisbury, Granite Quarry, Faith, Bostian Heights, Locke, China Grove and Salisbury fire departments responded to the call, along with Rowan Rescue.

Gildan Yarns did not respond to a call by press time.