A FARMER threatened by the Darwen Moor fire has spoken about the night he thought he would lose his farm and home.

Farmer John Smith’s New Barn farm in Tockholes was in danger of being completely destroyed when the moor fire started.

The fire was believed to have been caused by people having a barbecue.

Mr Smith said: “It was a long weekend, but we got through it somehow and are now in the process of putting everything back together, which is the hard bit.

“I got a phone call just before 8.30pm to say the fire was coming towards us and I should move my cows as soon as I could.

“Thankfully we managed to get them all out safely and by then thick smoke was everywhere.”

Some of Mr Smith’s land was burnt but the firefighters ensured it did not spread further.

He said: “I lost a lot of fencing though, a little over 1,000 metres, it was completely burnt through, it was scary.

“I don’t know what is happening with the fence yet, but I know it will be expensive because it is something like £8 per metre.

“We had to evacuate the animals and they are now outside my house as they cannot go to the same place as without fencing they would all escape.

“I went to see where it had got to the following morning and if it had continued at that speed I would had to have gone to get my wife and kids and evacuated the house too.

“It was a scary experience but everyone working together and we managed to contain it.”

Mr Smith thought he would lose everything if the fire had not been stopped when it did.

The fire affected 5km of moorland and is believed to have been started by a barbecue.

At one point 40 firefighters tackled the blaze which continued for two days after it began on Saturday.

Mr Smith said: “I am sure they have seen the damage they have caused and did not intend to cause it.

“The problem here is that during the lockdown people are coming to the countryside who do not usually come and so do not understand it.

“There has been a lot of trouble lately with people walking where they shouldn’t be, having barbecues, leaving all their rubbish behind and not shutting gates.

“They do not know these things and so they may accidentally cause trouble.”