A FIRE gutted a large barn in Hampshire today.

Firefighters from seven stations fought the blaze for more than seven hours.

Crews were called at 4.02am to the outbuilding engulfed in flames in St Mary Bourne, Hampshire and the stop call was not received until 11.28am.

The barn, which was about 30 metres by 10 metres, was completely damaged and the fire spread to three buildings next to it. Crews managed to save one of the buildings but the other two were also completely gutted by the flames.

Officer in charge, Ron Hedger, said, “Andover crews who were first on scene did a fantastic job putting together a plan and bringing the blaze under control. All of our crews worked incredibly hard together as a team and did a fantastic job in bringing the fire under control.

“The crews successfully prevented the fire from spreading to the third adjoining property and prevented further damage. Had it not been for their swift actions and hard work there is no doubt that the damage would have been much more significant”.

An investigation has launched to find out the cause of the blaze.