11:50am Thursday 4th March 2010
By Rebecca Cain
A FIRE at a barn near West Wycombe was caused by a “freak accident” when sparks from a steel cutter landed on hay.
The 30 metre by 35 metre outbuildings at Chorley Farm in Bottom Road caught fire on Tuesday around 10am while construction work was being carried out.
Daniel Rooke, partner of the agriculture D and P Group which leases the land from the West Wycombe estate, said it was a “freak accident” caused by sparks from a steel cutter.
At its peak there were more than 40 firefighters and officers at the scene as they struggled to get enough water to the scene to douse the blaze.
Mr Rooke said: “The brigade's problem was they couldn't locate any water. They had to run water for miles.
“We lost 600 big bales of straw, some machinery and about 30 tonne of fertiliser.
“It is just the massive inconvenience of it all. We will have to get more straw in to feed the animals for the winter.
“I think the barns are a write off. They are quite old barns to start with.
“At the end of the day no-one was hurt. We are lucky there was a lot of us all on the scene and we all worked as a team with the fire brigade.
“It could have been a whole lot worse.”
The group took over the lease last year and are currently in the process of renovating the farm.
Six fire engines were initially called to the fire on Tuesday. High Wycombe station manager John Bull said they could not locate the water hydrant on Bottom Road as residents did not know exactly where it was.
They got water from a hydrant in Chorley Road and a hose layer from Stokenchurch got water from a hydrant in Hatch Lane.
The fire continued to burn throughout the night and during the next day so two fire pumps stayed and left on Wednesday afternoon.
Blue watch manager Jon Franklin said on Tuesday night: “With hay we have got to let it burn. It is still on fire- what we have to do is get the hay out and let it burn.
Fertiliser was moved from the adjacent barn by farm workers.
Mr Bull added: “The farm workers really worked hard on our behalf trying to clear combustible materials from out of the adjacent barn incase it got away from us, fortunately it didn't.”
Neighbour David Farrington who lives in the Chorley Farm House next door had just returned from his holiday when the fire started.
He said: “Suddenly I heard small explosions. It was like gun fire.
“That was the first we heard about it. It got thicker and blacker.
“Sparks were going up and everything. It was absolutely astonishing. The flames were coming out of the roof. It was unbelievable.”
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