Three treated for smoke inhalation following barn fire on South Brink, Wisbech

Crews from Wisbech, March, Whittlesey and Huntingdon tackled the blaze. (Image: Archant)

Fire crews from March, Wisbech, Whittlesey and Huntingdon – including the incident command unit - were called to the blaze at the barn which is believed to have housed cauliflowers on South Brink at around 10.50am.

Station commander Mick Jackman, the officer in charge at the scene, said: “The crews arrived to find a well-developed fire involving two farm buildings. As with many buildings of this type, there was a significant amount of flammable material that was being stored in the area.

“The first crews to arrive took decisive actions to clear the area of the flammable material in addition to tackling the fire.

Three people were treated for smoke inhalation as a result of the fire. (Image: Archant)

“This resulted in a larger area being safe enough to utilise more firefighters to contain and put out the fire.

“Without these decisive actions, one of the buildings would certainly have suffered significant and unrepairable damage.”

The fire closed the A47 for a short period, and one local resident said she “heard a big bang and then saw plumes of smoke.”

Another said: “it was popping and cracking as we went through the smoke on the A47.

“It wasn’t until we got to the other side we could see how serious it was.”

Ten firefighters using breathing apparatus and jets extinguished the fire and returned to their station by 2pm.