CONTROLLED explosions of gas canisters took place on Tuesday as fire crews worked to tackle a major blaze at farm buildings near Northallerton.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said the fire at a farm in Bullamoor Road, Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, involves a large shed containing workshops and cylinders.

The road has been closed due to the risk of the cylinders on the site.

Police at the scene said there had been a number of controlled explosions of gas canisters on the site.

It is understood one of sheds contained a number of cars, several of which were saved from the blaze.

Crews from Northallerton, Thirsk, Richmond, Bedale, Ripon, Harrogate, Stokesley, Ripon, Colburn, the water bowser from Boroughbridge along with the fire engines from Yarm and Darlington were called to the scene.

A spokeswoman said: “The call came to us at 11.54am.

“Crews are working hard to protect surrounding buildings and additional fire engines have been requested to provide additional water.

“Fire crews are likely to be on site for some time.”

At 1.30pm, the fire service published an update saying the fire to the shed has mainly been extinguished now, and crews are damping down.

"The work of the crews on scene stopped the fire spreading to other buildings," said the statement.

At 2.15pm, the incident was further scaled back with three fire engines remaining at the scene to continue damping down.