15034/2A MAJOR explosion at a Brinkworth farm was narrowly avoided when a blaze destroyed the dairy unit and caused around £25,000 of damage.

Flames narrowly missed a gas tank behind the unit just ten feet away at Roger Merrett's farm on the B4042 road, last Thursday around 6.30pm.

A dozen cattle were moved to safety and no one was injured in the fire.

Mr Merrett, 29, said: "We were worried about the fire spreading. If the wind had changed direction the flames would have hit a gas tank and exploded the whole farm.

"It has really put a dampener on the New Year to have our unit burnt out costing us around £25,000."

Mr Merrett, 29, runs the 250-acre arable and beef farm with his father Ivan, wife Victoria and father-in-law Mick Ward. They have been farming in the area for 35 years.

The family were preparing for dinner at the time when Mr Ward went outside and noticed smoke spiralling from the roof of the dairy unit. He shouted for someone to ring the fire brigade. Mrs Merrett alerted the emergency services and three crews from Malmesbury, Wootton Bassett and Westlea arrived.

Within approximately 15 minutes, firefighters managed to control the inferno.

But it took another two hours to extinguish it.

Rushing out to see what could be done, Mr Merrett junior said his first thoughts were to take action and save his animals.

He said: "We could not see the flames because the smoke was so thick. My first reaction was shock. And then I thought do we wait for the fire brigade to arrive, or do we tackle it ourselves. I was just about to move the dozen cattle inside when the firefighters arrived.

"The cows were very frightened by the flames and smoke and were jostling about to get out. It was a real possibility we could have lost them."

Mr Merrett said the fire had destroyed the roof, burnt out and melted pipes delivering water to cattle in the nearby milking parlour.

His father thought rats chewing through electrical wires may have caused a fault which was to blame for the fire.