TWO HUNDRED bales of hay caught fire last night (Sept 4).

Crews from Thaxted, Dunmow and Saffron Walden were called to Thaxted Road in Thaxted around 10.30pm after reports of a fire.

On upon arrival the crews used two jets to extinguish the fire by midnight. Firefighters spent the night damping down and steady progress has been made. Crews remain at the incident, the farmer is assisting crews with a digger to pull apart the stack to reach the remaining hotspots.