Shropshire Star

Farmer devastated as blaze destroys tonnes of hay and straw

A farmer today spoke of his devastation after a fire destroyed about 25 tonnes of hay and straw.

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The blaze was caused by the hay overheating in the sun and led to an operation in which six fire crews from across the county spent four hours fighting the flames.

The barn was smoke damaged but the structure remained intact.

Crews from Bridgnorth, Church Stretton, Craven Arms, Ludlow and Shrewsbury attended the scene.

The fire happened at a farm in Strefford, Craven Arms, owned by John Morgan

He said: "My son discovered the fire when he was doing a routine check.

"We are all a bit in shock.

"It is going to cost a lot to replace - I do not know how much yet.

"We have never had anything like this before.

"Thank goodness we got to it in time and managed to stop the fire before it destroyed any of the farm.

"We moved the remaining hay and nearby animals to another area.

"It could have been a lot worse."

The Strefford fire, on Saturday, follows a huge barn blaze which happened near Ludlow on Wednesday. The barn, containing 10 tonnes of nitrogen fertiliser and 50 tonnes of hay, went up in flames on Wednesday between Bromfield and Craven Arms.

And it was one of a number of fires that kept Shropshire Fire Service busy over the weekend.

Crews were called to a house at Three Crosses, Clee Hill near Ludlow just before 8.30am yesterday, where they gave oxygen to a woman affected by a fire in a kitchen.

Separate rubbish fires happened on Saturday evening, at Lydbury Close, Stirchley and Queen Street, Telford, as well as Racecourse Crescent, Shrewsbury.

Firefighters were also called to deal with a fire involving a car on one of Shropshire's busiest roads. It happened on the A5 Bypass near Nesscliffe at about 8pm on Saturday. Crews from Baschurch, Oswestry and Shrewsbury were called to the scene but the fire was extinguished before they arrived.

A fire involving about 50 square metres of gorse was also tackled in Oxford Road in Dawley at about 9pm on Saturday. Firefighters from Telford Central were called to the scene who used a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire.

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