DOZENS of firefighters tackled a huge barn blaze that threatened to spread to neighbouring buildings.

The wooden barn on the Buston Manor Estate belonging to Lord and Lady Falmouth was already well alight when the alarm was raised.

The first pumps arrived at the scene off Shingle Barn Lane in West Farleigh just before 2am on Saturday.

The two crews from Maidstone’s White Watch quickly called for back-up when it was realised that adjacent buildings contained potentially explosive stacks of fertilizer, pesticides and acetyline tanks.

Further crews arrived from Marden and Lenham and they were joined by a height vehicle from Medway.

The struggle to bring the fire under control was hampered by a lack of water and crews pumped water from a farm pond 400m away until a water bowser arrived on scene. Kent Fire and Rescue Service also deployed its Incident Support Unit when it was realised that there was asbestos in the barn.

A firefighter said: "It was just massive, massive. There was never much chance of saving the barn, we had to concentrate on stopping the flames spreading.

"It was ferocious blaze - and we were hampered by the lack of water."

Neighbours described the noise of the blaze as being like someone holding a huge firework party.

The fire eventually burnt down but crews remained in attendance until well into Saturday morning damping down.

The 30m by 20m barn was reduced to its metal frame. An electiral fault is believed to have been the cause.