Significant property fire at Rickfield Farm in Milcombe

At its height over 40 firefighters were in attendance

Fire crews were called to what they described as “a significant property fire” at Rickfield Farm in Milcombe on Thursday evening.

Local people were advised to keep their windows and doors closed.

Emergency services were alerted to the blaze at 8.25pm.   It had quickly taken hold of the whole building, which is used by a number of different business types, including furniture restoration and storage. 

At its height over 40 firefighters were tackling the fire with 8 appliances at the scene, and water units from Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue services.  A hydraulic platform and command unit were also used.

Crews from nine stations were in attendance including firefighters from Banbury, Deddington, Witney, Charlbury, Burford, Chipping Norton and county control.  They were assisted by crews from both Northamptonshire and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service.

This morning Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue have scaled down the response with 4 fire appliances and 1 water unit remaining at the scene.

A spokesperson for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue said: “It was a really challenging incident due to needing large amounts of water, hence the 3 water units required and made more difficult by the roof entirely collapsing meaning we were only able to fight the fire from outside the building.

“The early stages of the fire were tackled by hand held hoses and ground monitors before we were able to set the hydraulic platform up and fight the fire from above.”

Its understood no one was involved and there were no injuries.   The cause of the fire will be investigated once it is fully extinguished.

Fire crews are likely to be at the scene throughout today.

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Published: 13/12/2024 08:40am by Banbury FM Newsteam

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