HORSES were led to safety when hay caught fire in a stable block on Greenbank Terrace, Lower Darwen.

Blackburn and Darwen firefighters took more than an hour to put out the blaze yesterday afternoon.

Sub officer Alan Burgess, of Darwen fire service, said the fire had started in a lean-to barn section of the stable block and spread into the roof space above the stables, where hay was stored.

Owner Terry Harrison and his sons led several horses from the stables and tried to put out the blaze before before firefighters arrived.

Firefighters used a Skylift aerial ladder platform to remove all the slates from the roof and extinguish the burning hay underneath. Fifteen tonnes of hay was destroyed and the barn was severely fire damaged.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.