Just after midnight Saturday and within the first minute of Sunday morning on the 25th July Fire Control received several 999 calls reporting a fire involving a barn containing farm machinery at Staffords Farm, Lawson Road, Pilling.
The remoteness of the location made it necessary to pump water to fight the fire from a source some distance away and a water relay was set up. To do this a fire engine is located near the source and it pumps water to another fire engine closer to the fire and from that to another further up the chain until at the head of the relay the water can be jetted onto the fire.
Steps were taken to prevent the water used to fight the fire, polluted on coming into contact with the products of combustion, from entering surface drains and contaminating water courses. A Hazardous Materials Unit and crew carried out this vital work, alongside the eight fire engines and crews and Mobile Fire Station mobilised to the incident.
The immediate concern was to prevent the fire from spreading to neighbouring farm buildings, which was successfully accomplished and the fire was then steadily reduced in scale, though firefighters are likely to remain at the scene for a number of hours yet.
The cause of the fire has at this stage not been established, but an investigation into its cause has begun.