A FAMILY of farmers have been left “distraught” after a major fire destroyed one of their buildings.

Firefighters were called to Maple Ridge Lane in Yate at 4.15pm on Sunday, June 25, after smoke was spotted billowing from the cattle farm. 

They discovered that a hay barn had gone up in flames, and were forced to call for back up due to the severity of the fire.

Eight fire engines attended the scene and crews worked well into the night to tackle the blaze.

Their efforts have since been praised by the Hollister family, who have run the farm for 40 years. 

Caroline Hollister, 44, whose 78-year-old father John built up the farm from scratch, told the Gazette that the whole family were “devastated” by the fire.

“We lost a tractor and a ride-on lawn mower in the fire, but we are so grateful that no one was hurt,” she said.

“Our farm dog and 20,000 pheasants were on site at the time, but thankfully they were all ok.

“We can’t thank the fire service enough – they were absolutely incredible and did an amazing job.”

Once the blaze was under control, firefighters made the decision to let the fire burn out by itself.

It was still smouldering three days later, but has since burnt out safely. 

Caroline said: “Everything has been secured now and we are keeping an eye on the barn. The whole incident was controlled really well.” 

The barn, which measured 47m by 27m, was primarily used to store hay, but also contained a tractor, a mower, a grass rake, grass fertiliser, wood and an empty LPG cylinder. 

It is not yet known what caused the fire, and the extent of the damage means that the Hollister family may never find out.

They will be undertaking a massive clear up operation in the coming weeks.

Caroline said: “We were initially concerned that the building might fall down, but because it’s been well-engineered to a high standard we no longer think that it is at risk.

“Now we just need to start the process of rebuilding the barn. It’s a busy time of year for us, but we will hopefully have it sorted by the winter.”

She added: “Thank you to everyone who called in the fire and came to the farm to help us. 

“Lots of local people turned up to help – it was really amazing.”

A spokeswoman for Avon Fire and Rescue Service told the Gazette that the fire is believed to have been started accidentally.