THE cause of a blaze which severely damaged a farm grain dryer near Marlborough at the weekend remains a mystery.

Nearly 30 firefighters attended the blaze at Temple Farm, Rockley.

Although the cause is still being investigated it is not thought to be suspicious.

Chris Musgrave, manager of the Temple Farming Estate, said fire broke out in the dryer at about 8.15am on Saturday, an hour after it had been switched on.

He said he would have dealt with a small fire with an extinguisher but said: "I took one look and called the fire brigade."

Five appliances including a water carrier from Ramsbury and a hydraulic platform from Swindon were sent to the incident with a total of 28 fire fighters.

The aerial appliance was used to play water down into the dryer on top of the 40 tonnes of burning oats.

Firefighters used a thermal imaging device to locate hot-spots in the grain to know where to direct their hoses.

Despite the efforts of the firefighters they were unable to prevent the cereal being destroyed and major damage to the dryer.

After bringing the initial fire under control the firefighters remained at the scene for several hours making surethe fire did not re-ignite.

Mr Musgrave said the value of the oats destroyed in the fire came to about £2,000.

He said the fire had now left the estate with the problem of drying the rest of its harvest.

He said: "We have several thousands tonnes of grain to dry because we are only about 20 per cent through the harvest. We are left with the huge headache of trying to sort out how we are going to get it all dry."

He said neighbouring farmers were being asked if they had any spare grain drying capacity and a team of engineers was working flat-out to try to get the Temple Farm dryer repaired and back in service."

Mr Musgrave said: "We still don't know what caused the fire."