Huge fire completely destroys farm building near Birmingham
Fifty firefighters had to "surround" a huge blaze on a farm near Birmingham which ended up completely destroying a building.
West Midlands Fire Service attended the "severe fire" which engulfed a large barn in Wishaw, near Sutton Coldfield on Monday (25 June).
The fire could be seen from Birmingham city centre, around 13 miles away.
The service had to call for more water resources due to the severity of the fire.
West Midlands Fire Service said on Facebook: "When Erdington and Sutton crews arrived, it soon became apparent that more resources were required for water to tackle the fire.
"Crews worked extremely hard to save surrounding buildings and were successful in doing so. Unfortunately the building involved in fire couldn't be saved."
The scene on approach and on arrival at the Knoll, in Wishaw. 10 pumps required due to water needed. Unfortunately we were unable to save the one building but crews worked very hard to successfully save surrounding buildings pic.twitter.com/JxgSkUoHGo
— WMFS Erdington (@ErdingtonFire) June 25, 2018
A sharp rise in farm fires has prompted a rural insurer to call for farmers to check their fire prevention and evacuation procedures.
NFU Mutual’s claims statistics reveal that the cost of farm fire claims rose by an alarming 26% to £44m in 2016.
The most common cause of farm fires was electrical faults, which were responsible for almost half of 2016 fire claims, according to the insurer. Arson was the next most common cause.
A blaze that torched more than £150,000 worth of straw in a suspected arson attack in Nottinghamshire was described as one of the largest ever farm fires in the UK.
