Firefighters tackle game farm blaze in Mid Wales
A barn used as a warehouse was destroyed in an early hours blaze at a game farm.
About 50 firefighters from three counties were drafted in to deal with the fire amid fears that ammunition and fuel tanks in the building could pose safety risks.
The alarm was raised at 2.30am on Wednesday at Bettws Hall at Bettws Cedewain, near Newtown, and the barn was well alight when the first firefighters arrived.
Off-road vehicles, tyres, fuel tanks and ammunition were stored in the building and the blaze took more than nine hours to put out. An investigation into the fire is under way, but fire offices say that it is not thought to have been started deliberately. No-one was hurt.
Firefighters from Mid and West Wales, Shropshire and Herefordshire were involved in the major operation.
Crews were drafted in from Welshpool, Llanfair Caereinion, Montgomery, Llanfyllin, Machynlleth and Bishop's Castle as well as a rural response pump from Welshpool, water carriers from Newtown and Leominster and a mini water bowser from Oswestry.
A portable dam was brought into use to ensure pollutants could not enter the local streams and rivers.
A spokesman for the fire service said that a specialist hazardous materials team was on site in case of problems with materials within the blaze.
There was praise for the actions of the firefighters from those who run Bettws Hall.
A hall spokesman stressed that the business was unaffected by the fire in the warehouse and he said that the fire service had done a tremendous job.
"The main thing was that no-one was hurt," he said.
Firefighters also had to deal with a fire at a landfill site at Cwmbelan in Llanidloes on Tuesday night. Firefighters from Newtown were on the scene all night to ensure the blaze was extinguished.
