Firefighters tackle major barn blaze at Ashburnham

Battle firefighters, backed up by crews from Burwash, Bexhill, Herstmonceux and Uckfield fire stations, were called to a farm just off Brown Bread Street in Ashburhnham.

When the first crews arrived on the scene just after 10pm, the barn was already well-alight.

Pete Everett, station manager at Battle Fire Station, told the Observer that the call out to the rural area did pose some challenges for the fire crews.

He said: “It was in an area where water supplies are variable.

“We called for a water bowser which is standard practice if we are out in the sticks.”

Water was also taken from a nearby pond to tackle the blaze.

There was also a real risk of the blaze spreading to other nearby buildings.

Station manager Everett added: “On the site there were some other workshops and units with wooden frames which were at risk.

“Good early interventions meant they were not damaged.”

The burning barn had been used to store items of furniture.

But thanks to the speedy actions of firefighters, some of this was able to be saved.

Station manager Everett said: “We were able to save about a third of the furniture.

“Bearing in mind the nature of the building and what was stored in it, to salvage anything was good.”

Firefighters donned specialist breathing apparatus and used hose reel jets to tackle the fire.

The incident was scaled back from seven firefighting appliances to just three at 12.20am.

Firefighters remained on the scene overnight damping down.

Crews returned to the scene at 9am on Tuesday (February 28) to inspect the blaze-hit building.

An investigation was carried out and the fire was found to have started accidentally.

The incident has been handed over to the owners of the barn.

No one was in the building when the fire broke out and no one was hurt in the incident.

* Picture courtesy of Battle Fire Station’s Twitter feed.

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