BARKING dogs saved a farm near Tenbury from a major fire that could have destroyed tens of thousands of pounds of buildings and machinery.
Fire fighters were called to a farm in Rochford following reports of a tractor on fire.
Two crews from Tenbury attended initially but assessing the scale of the fire, extra resources were requested and two further pumps from Leominster and one from Leintwardine were dispatched to the incident along with the Aerial Ladder Platform from Worcester and an Urban Search and Rescue team from Droitwich.
The fire had broken out in a tractor at the farm and then spread to some wooden storage boxes stored up against a building.
Fire fighters wearing breathing apparatus tackled the fire with one hose reel, two main jets and one covering jet used.
The fire was brought under control within an hour although crews remained at the scene longer, damping down and turning over and completing fire investigation work.
“Occupants at the farm told us they were alerted by their dogs who were barking in a different way to usual, and so they checked and found the tractor on fire, said station commander Gary Jay of Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.
“This early warning coupled with the hard work of our crews undoubtedly prevented the fire from spreading further and damaging other buildings and farm machinery.”
He confirmed that no one was injured during the blaze but there was damage to the tractor, the wooden boxes were destroyed and there was also fire damage to a roller shutter and insulation panels on the steel-framed building.
The fire was reported at 6am on Sunday morning