Firefighters tackled a major blaze at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard last night.

But heritage fans needn’t fear the loss of Medway’s naval heritage – the fire didn’t cause any damage.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service chose the dockyard to test plans in place to tackle major incidents.

Exercise Hemp involved a storage room fire at the rear of The Ropery which then spread to all floors of the historic quarter mile long Georgian building.

Ten fire engines, a height vehicle, a high volume pump, Sheppey’s fire launch boat and a command support unit were involved.

Speaking before the event Steve Jeffery, north division area commander for KFRS, said: “The construction and style of the historic buildings at the dockyard make this exercise a particular challenge for our crews and any lessons learned will form the basis for major incident plans in the future.”