Farm buildings destroyed in blaze

Around 50 firefighters and 9 engines were called to tackle a hazardous fire at a farm building in Horsmonden. The buildings were used to store explosive cylinders and timber.

The fire broke out at Nevergood Farm, in Brick Kiln Lane, at around 6.30pm and took around 3 hours to bring under control.

Two large barns and several other buildings were destroyed in the incident.

Neighbour Penny Anderson said: “I heard a massive bang at about 7.30pm.They use guns to scare the birds off and at first I thought it was that. But it was much louder. It was like a cannon going off. Then I saw the fire engines coming past.”

White Watch manager Iain Gross said: “We didn’t actually put people in as it would be classed as a highly hazardous operation. Three hours in to the incident we started to scale it back. The cylinders are explosive and shrapnel hazards. They are one of the more tricky cylinders. It was fairly obvious there were cylinders involved because of the explosions.”

An investigation will be carried out to determine the exact cause of the fire.