Warwickshire farmer's 'nightmare' after fire on first harvest day
"A fire of this size you can't put it out, you've just got to stop the feed of it," Mr Hadley said.He managed to contain the blaze using his tractor as a firebreak, but described how the "tinder-dry" conditions had "exaggerated" the blaze into "quite a substantial fire". "It was all going seemingly perfect, moisture contents were great, everything was going nicely until a quarter of way into the field, smoke," he said."[But] it could have been a lot worse."
Mr Hadley said a "fair patch" of his winter feed, that was already in short supply, had been destroyed and the blaze had made him nervous as he continued to harvest. He added that his biggest cost would be to repair the machinery that was damaged as he tried to control the spread of fire. Despite his growing concerns about the UK's extreme weather, Mr Hadley remained positive."Everyday comes with its challenges, but truthfully that's what we [farmers] love," he said.
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