MORE than six fire crews from across the county were called to reports of a large barn on fire in Lifton on Tuesday evening.

The barn at Coombe Farm was well alight and threatening other buildings when two crews from Launceston and a crew from Tavistock arrived at 8.30pm.

The crews requested the attendance of a fourth engine as well as the incident command unit and a supporting fire crew from Greenbank.

Almost half an hour after the crews arrived, a further two crews from Okehampton and Yelverton were called to attend as well as a water foam carrier, hose layer, Western Power — as the fire was affecting overhead power cables — and a fire service hazardous materials and environmental protection officer, due to a minor level of asbestos involved in the incident.

After an hour, the single storey barn was still well alight and crews attempted to stop the fire spreading to an adjacent barn.

The barn was used to store around 250 tons of straw, a horse box lorry, a tractor and several other farm vehicles and items of machinery.

Police were called to the incident to provide traffic control and to assist the fire investigation officer.

The crews worked overnight, steadily reducing the fire and at 6.40am yesterday (Wednesday) two fire crews were left, making steady progress, turning over and damping down hotspots.

l Fire crews attended a blaze at the derelict former garden centre building in Okehampton at around 8am on Tuesday. Three appliances from Okehampton and Torrington attended the incident and used one hose reel jet to extinguish the fire.