HALSTEAD fire crew was part of a team that aided in extinguishing a fire in South Cambridgeshire on Tuesday night.

The fire crew, along with crews from Saffron Walden and Newport were called to the scene of a fire in a flat above a pub.

Firefighters were called to join Crews from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service at a property in Town Lane, Pampisford at 11:31pm.

On arrival, crews confirmed that a flat above a pub was completely alight.

Crews used breathing apparatus to attempt to extinguish the fire from inside the building but were called out when floors began to collapse, and the roof was identified as being unsafe.

Firefighters then surrounded the building with hoses to make sure the fire didn’t spread to neighbouring properties as these had thatched roofs.

Problems with water supply were what called for Halstead Crews to also attend with a water bowser.

After over an hour long journey up to South Cambridgeshire to join crews from the county already at the scene, the crew from Halstead came with their bowser providing 12,000 litres of water to the scene on arrival.

Cambridge Water arrived on the scene shortly later and were able to tweak valves to improve the strength of the water supply.

The fire was finally extinguished by 3:50am.

A house at the back of the pub was heavily smoke-logged as a result of the fire, so crews worked together to evacuate the family and clear the property of smoke.

A safety check was then carried out and the family were safely back inside their home before crews then left the scene.

Station Manager, Jon Ford, said: “Crews worked really hard and used a collaborative approach to tackle the fire as effectively as possible.

“There were a large number of thatched-roof properties in the area, so our focus here was to contain and extinguish the fire, and to prevent the fire from spreading to other buildings nearby.

"Due to the age of the pub, the fire spread quickly, and we were sadly unable to save it.”

In total, there were nine fire engines needed, which included two from Saffron Walden, and one from Newport, Halstead, Linton, Huntingdon, Gamlingay, St Neots and Sawston.

An investigation will be carried out to determine the cause of the fire.