A MILE-AND-A-HALF stretch of country lane linking two villages was closed for three hours after a fire broke out near a farm.

Six fire engines from across East Lancashire were called to the blaze in Pasture Lane, Barrowford. The fire broke out just before 6pm on Wednesday.

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What started as a grass fire spread to a farm outbuilding and damaged some parked vehicles, and there were fears nearby gas canisters could lead to an explosion.

Due to the remote location of the blaze, a large number of fire engines had to pump water. The road closure meant drivers travelling between Barrowford and Roughlee had to go via Blacko or Fence.

Fire-service spokesman John Taylor said: “We have a thing called a water relay which is when all the fire-engine hoses are linked up in order to pump water from some distance away. In this case it was the location that proved difficult.

“It was a grass fire initially and then it spread to a shed which was next to a joiner’s workshop, but that did not get touched in the end. It was a bit fiddly because there were some gas cylinders that were threatening to go off but the fire did not get too close to those.

“A couple of parked vehicles were damaged. The crews were on top of it from an early stage but with damping down they were there for a couple of hours.”

Crews from Nelson, Colne, Burnley and Blackburn also attended the blaze. Police were called to the scene by the fire service at 6.20pm to help with the road closure.

Cause of the blaze is not thought suspicious.