Isle of Wight crews tackle Bank Holiday Monday barn and hay blaze

Around 40 firefighters were called at 11:44 yesterday morning (30 August) following reports of a barn alight on Ashey Road near Ryde.

Upon arrival crews found smoke and flames issuing from the roof of the barn, with a tractor and around 600 hay bales also involved in the fire.

Ryde, Newport, Sandown, Ventnor and Cowes fire engines were called to the scene along with support vehicles from East Cowes, Freshwater and a command unit from Portchester.

Crews from Southsea and St Mary’s were moved across the Solent to standby at stations to provide fire cover on the island, whilst a Havant fire engine was sent across as a relief crew to assist later in the evening.

The fire was tackled with jets and hose reels, as firefighters wore sets of breathing apparatus and used drag rakes and beaters. The HIWFRS Manitou vehicle is also in attendance, removing hay and straw that has been affected by the fire.

Overnight the incident was scaled down to two pumps who remained to work alongside the owner to dampen down the scene.

Road closures have now been lifted.

A crew will return to the scene later this evening to conduct a reinspection and check for any further hotspots.

The stop message came in at 13:08 (31 August).

Incident Commander Graham Orchard said:

“The fire which broke out yesterday morning involved 600 bales of hay as well as a tractor and the barn itself. A trailer loaded with bales adjacent to the barn was also alight when we arrived.

“Our teams have been working alongside the owner, making use of equipment to remove an amount of the hay and straw from the barn and move the trailer to stop the fire spreading to adjacent farm buildings. We have then been damping down around the area to manage the fire and allow the hay to burn under controlled conditions.

“Over the last 24 hours our crews have worked extremely hard to initially bring the blaze under control and protect the surrounding buildings and have then ensured the fire has been safely managed, with no injuries or harm to livestock on the farm.”

Photo by Island Echo