FIREFIGHTERS from across Greater Manchester were called to a barn blaze in Dunham Massey in the early hours of this morning.

An emergency call was made at 2am following reports of a fire at a farm on Sinderland Lane.

At 10.30am today one relief crew was still tackling the blaze, but it has been contained to the hay in the barn and has not spread to farming equipment.

Initially two fire engines from Sale and Altrincham were sent to the site, but it quickly became clear that further back-up was required and five crews and an Ops Support Unit were fighting the blaze at its height.

Station manager Paul Starling, who was incident commander, said: "The fire involved approximately 50 tonnes of hay - which firefighters brought under control and stopped it from spreading to nearby farming machinery.

"A number of large bags of fertiliser, which can be highly flammable, were contained and removed from the site to prevent the fire from escalating.

"Also, crews used water spray to stop the fire coming into contact with a LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) cylinder."

At 4am, when the worst of the fire had been contained, the incident was scaled down to three crews and then to two crews at 6am.

An investigation into the cause of the fire will begin once the hay has completely burned out.