SIXTY firefighters from across South Devon spent ten hours tackling a major barn blaze on Dartmoor over the weekend.

Crews from Bovey Tracey and Chagford were among those roped in to help subdue the tons of blazing hay and straw at a Princetown farm.

The shout kicked off just after 4.30am on Saturday with local firefighters and colleagues from Yelverton and Plympton responding to the initial 999 call.

They were quickly joined by teams from Tavistock and Bere Alston together with the Incident Support Unit from Bovey Tracey and Welfare Unit from Ivybridge and a telehandler.

Contents of the barn were well alight when the first crews arrived on scene where six sets of breathing gear were worn by firefighters.

They used two hosreel jets, a safety jet, a compressed air foam jet, a triple extension ladder, small tools and thermal imaging gear to deal with the incident.

It was quickly established from the barn’s owner that no hazardous materials were stored inside the affected building.

Two hours after the alarm was raised, the number of appliances involved increased by two with a second pump from Tavistock and one from Plymouth’s Crownhill station.

Some 120 bales of hay were rescued from the inferno where mechanical grabs were used to drag untouched and damaged material to a place of safety away from the seat of the fire.

Four replacement crews were called in at 8.30am, including one from Chagford.

Midday arrived with news that firefighters could relinquish their breathing gear as the flames subsided.

By 2pm fire investigators were in a position to examine the scale of the damage.

Altogether, three separate stacks of hay bales were involved with one of them severely damaged in the fire.

A crew from Yelverton returned to the scene at 7pm to confirm there was no further need for check-up visits.