Crews are still at the scene of a garage blaze in Albaston which destroyed the building and most of its contents including a caravan this afternoon.

Twenty four firefighters attended from Callington, Tavistock, Saltash and Bere Alston after fire broke at around 2.37pm.

The 15 metre by 10 metre building, a former piggery, also housed four gas cylinders containing LPG gas, hundreds of litres of diesel, large quantities of sugar for bee keeping and several bee hives.

Water was pumped from a hydrant on Well Park Road to the location 150 metres away down a lane.

Incident commander Mark Goldsmith from Liskeard said they managed to save the colonies of bees but problems with the water supply had meant that the building could not be saved.

‘The initial water supply from the hydrant was very poor, like a tap,’ he said. ‘ ‘South West Water boosted the water supply but unfortunately it was too late and the fire grew very quickly. Water supply is very poor in the area, it is not the first time we have experienced it.

‘We had to stretch lots of hose to the hydrant up the road and the pressure failed. It was appalling really, it was almost like the equivalent of a trickle.’

The cause of the fire is unknown at this stage.