Fire crews work through the night to tackle Okehampton blaze

Fire crews have worked through the night to tackle a fire hitting a farm building in Okehampton.

Crews were first called to the scene shortly after 4am and work to douse the flames continued until nearly 10am this morning.

The fire, thought to be accidental, started in a single story farm building filled with large amounts of hay, straw, corn and animal feeds as well as some light farm machinery, half of which was consumed by the flames.

The fire was extinguished by fire crews using three hose reel jets, one compressed air foam systems jet and two breathing apparatus wearers.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue have said that ‘the fire is now under control’ and fire crews are now helping to remove the remaining contents of the barn and will remain on site to turn over and dampen down hotspots of the fire.

Efforts were frustrated by strong winds which strengthened the blaze and concerns for cattle nearby which were removed from the scene.

Electricity was disconnected from the burning building and workers from Western Power attended the scene.

Two crews from Okehampton, one from Hatherleigh and a water tanker from Exeter were deployed to the scene and were later joined by a crew from Tavistock, a compressed air foam crew from Torrington and the Incident Command Unit from Plymouth marking a major response to the incident.

The response has now been scaled down as the fire is under control.