HEREFORD and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service is issuing an alert to the farming community after being called to a series of fires over the last couple of weeks involving agricultural machinery, stubble or hay and straw.

There have been four separate incidents across the town counties. These included a large field of stubble on fire, a fire involving a baler, another fire involving a baler and stubble, and two separate combine harvester fires.

Station Commander Adrian Thompson, from Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, said: “It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of these fires but we do want to make the farming community aware that incidents have happened and to be extra vigilant themselves.

“We recognise that farmers will be making the most of this prolonged spell of dry weather but we’d urge them to take regular breaks if using agricultural machinery to try to avoid the risk of such an incident occurring.

“We would also encourage them to consider carrying some form of firefighting equipment with them if at all possible as it can take some time for fire crews to reach some of these more rural locations, and a fire in a baler or a tractor can develop very rapidly, causing significant damage to the equipment and the loss of the crop, which can both have a massive financial implication for the farmer.”