£12,000 cost of Caunsall crop fire

More than £12,000 of damage was caused when flames tore through a cornfield and part of a nearby woodland.

A 30-acre section of the field, off Caunsall Road, Caunsall, near Kidderminster, was engulfed by fire yesterday and started to spread to the woods beyond.

Stourton farmers RD Needs and Sons, which leases the field, were today counting the costs of the blaze.

They estimated the fire will cost between £12,000 and £15,000 in lost crops and repairs to hedges and fences. The fire started at around 5.30pm yesterday.

Robin Needs, aged 59, said: "At the end of the day it is a year's work which has literally gone up in smoke.

"Not only is it the loss of the crops but also repairs to the hedges and fences."