FARMER Chris Combe believes a barn fire in which 200 tonnes of straw worth £10,000 was destroyed, was started by vandals.

Mr Combe uses the five-bay Dutch Barn in Coate to store straw for his pigs. He runs Roundway Hill Farm, and as well as pigs he has an arable business.

Mr Combe said: "There are no electrics in the barn and we can only assume it was started by somebody.

"It's frustrating that this has happened. About twelve months ago vandals slashed fertiliser bags that were stored in the barn causing a lot of the fertiliser to be wasted."

Mr Combe said the barn was insured but the fire had come at a time when his business had picked up after a lean time during the foot and mouth outbreak.

Although his farm was not affected by foot and mouth disease the animal movement restrictions meant he could not sell any pigs for 11 weeks, causing his costs to rise.

The fire in the barn began just after 2pm on Saturday, November 17, and 28 firefighters were needed to contain the fire.

Their immediate concern was the asbestos barn roof. Devizes Fire Station commander Julian Beinhorn said: "If an asbestos roof gets hot it pops and explodes and when we got there it was exploding and there was debris flying about.

"We put jets of water on it to cool it down and that took away the severity of the fire."

As a precaution residents in nearby Windsor Drive were told to keep their windows and doors shut.

Mr Beinhorn said: "Smoke was billowing out and we were concerned that asbestos could blow off and cause a hazard.

"We sent several firefighters to Windsor Drive, where they urged residents to shut their doors and windows just in case there was any asbestos dust in the air. The advice was given as a precaution. The amount of asbestos in a roof like the one at Dutch Barn is minute."

Residents were told that it was alright for them to reopen their doors and windows on Saturday evening.

Mr Beinhorn and his crew were relieved by other crews during Saturday evening.

Crews worked during the night, through Sunday and into Monday to dampen down the fire.

Mr Beinhorn said: "The easiest way of dealing with a hay and straw fire is to let it burn out and then rake it down. We used cooling jets to keep the structure and brickwork cool."

At the height of the fire, crews from Devizes, Calne and Melksham tackled the fire.

The water carrier, based at Devizes Fire Station, was used.

A shortage of hydrants in the area meant that water was taken from the nearby Kennet & Avon Canal. A total of 1,000 gallons was used to put the fire out.