PHOTOS: Barn fire
Firefighters have spent the afternoon at a barn fire in Maldon today.
Six crews were called to approximately 650 tonnes of hay on fire inside a barn.
Firefighters worked together to prevent the fire spreading to nearby barns and a large stack of straw bales.
Crews worked with the farmers who used machinery to move bales from the neighbouring barn to prevent the fire from spreading to it and destroying more product.
Due to the remote area and water supply, a Water Bowser from Corringham was needed.
Crews worked with the farmers to dig out a path to the large straw stack and used an off-road vehicle from Burnham to help fend off the fire from the other side of the hedges. This prevented the fire from spreading to the straw stack.
Firefighters have been monitoring the fire throughout the afternoon as it burns off in a controlled burn.
As of 8:30pm, two crews remain at the scene and will keep an eye on the fire overnight as it burns under control.
The landowner has thanked crews for their efforts to protect the surrounding property and product.
Station Manager Dan Wastell, Incident Commander said: “I’d like to say thank you to all of our crews that have attended this incident in extremely hot conditions. Everyone's worked really, really hard to bring this incident under control.
“This incident has included lots of crews from our local on-call fire stations, with many of the crews having left their day work to come and assist us at this point and during these conditions.
“We’d like to thank the farmers for their continuous help throughout this incident. By working together to move bales from the other barn and to keep the barn cool, we’ve been able to prevent it from destroying any more product.”
An investigation will be carried out when the fire is fully extinguished to determine what caused it.
Could you be an on-call firefighter?
Maldon, Witham, South Woodham Ferrers, Corringham, Hawkwell and Burnham’s firefighters are on-call firefighters - they all live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station and are paid to protect their community.
Do you live or work within 5 minutes of an on-call fire station? You could be an on-call firefighter.
Find out more about the role and how to apply at join.essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call
