More than 40 firefighters spent the best part of Sunday tackling a massive blaze at a barn in Dengemarsh Road, Lydd.

According to the fire service, they were called at 2.38am to tackle a fire that was raging at a barn, measuring 20m by 10m, at a farm.

The two crews, Lydd and New Romney, were soon joined by a water unit and two further pumps as they battled to contain the fire at the Dutch barn, which contained about 500 bays of hay and one tonne of loose hay.

A spokesman for the fire service said: “The roof had burnt away and because it was thought to be contain asbestos, additional control measures were put in place to uphold public safety.”

By 4.36am the service’s attendance was scaled down to two pumps and at 11.30am the farmer and owner was asked to use a digger to stir up the remains of the hay to help extinguish the last embers.

The stop came through at 2.58pm. No one was hurt. The cause is as yet unknown.