Oxfordshire homes powerless after huge crop fire – update

Firefighters were called to extinguish around 100 acres of field in Aston Tirrold, near Cholsey, at about 1.30pm on Monday, July 6.

Flames could be seen quickly moving across the crops as shocked onlookers stood and watched.

Smoke billowed into a thick cloud above as the fire continued to ravage the arable farmland.

The fire. (Image: Aj Roberts)

In an update on Tuesday morning, Oxfordshire fire and rescue service said crews crews left the scene at 9.20pm on Monday having dealt with the fire

Crews had been able to scale back from 14 fire engines to 4 at 6pm yesterday.

The cause is unknown but not though to be suspicious.

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Scottish & Southern Electricity Network said it has had to isolate power due to safety concerns on its network in the area.

Engineers arrived on the scene at around 5.15pm to fix the unplanned power cut affecting 537 properties.

“Where possible, we will always try to keep the power on, however, there are situations like this where we need to isolate the power to keep people safe,” a spokesman said.

Although a cause has not been determined, field fires are most commonly caused by farm machinery sparks from combine blades hitting stones, hot exhausts igniting crop dust and worn engine bearings.

Arson is also common as well as discarded smoking materials and natural events like lightning strikes.