EAST Lancashire ice cream producer Eddie Cowpe is counting the cost this morning of a fire which damaged 56 tonnes of baled hay on his Samlesbury farm.

Firefighters were called to Court Lodge Farm, in Whalley Road, at 3.21pm when a fire began in one of three adjacent barns storing baled hay.

A plume of smoke could be seen from the main road and traffic was brought to a standstill for a while as Whalley Road was partially blocked by emergency vehicles.

The flames damaged a diesel generator, a straw elevator, a dust extraction unit and 500 square metres of steel roof.

There was also severe damage to 20 per cent of cladding on the outside of a livestock building, as well as to 30 metres of wheat, 18 metres of maize gluten and 15 metres of soya used to feed the animals stored in a third barn.

Mr Cowpe (pictured, inset) said: "Unfortunately it has destroyed equipment and a large quantity of hay but they did manage to stop it spreading to the other barns which is one thing.

"The ice cream business was not affected. It just a case of assessing the damage now."