SOWS and piglets died when a blaze broke out at a pig farm on Portland.

A total of nine sows and their piglets died when rainwater ran into the electrics at the Portland Pigs farm off Grove Road.

Firefighters carried 15 piglets to safety and two sows were guided away from the farrowing shed affected by the blaze.

Pig farmer Rob Gray arrived for work yesterday morning to see smoke coming from one of the sheds and said he could not tell when it had started.

He said: “I think it was going most of the night and got into the roof. It was in one of the farrowing rooms.

“We lost nine sows altogether and quite a few piglets.

Mr Gray, who is also a retained firefighter on Portland, praised his colleagues who arrived with two fire engines coming from Weymouth and one from Portland.

He added: “It was smoking a lot and as a fireman you know not to put yourself at risk.

“So I got the boys up and they sorted it.”

He added: “They went in and carried the piglets out of the smoke-logged shed “I’m one of those guys and that’s why I joined the fire service – to serve the island.”

The fire crews arrived at the 150 sow pig farm close to the Young Offender Institution at 8.30am yesterday.

Kevin Rider, station commander for Portland fire station, said: “The probable cause was rainwater getting into an electrical box.

“We saved a couple of sows and 15 piglets so we did get something good out of it.

“With the piglets it was a case of picking them up and coming out with them.

“The sows had to be guided out with anything you could hold like pieces of ply or anything to shepherd them out.”

A Dorset Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said the fire was found in the roof space and crews used a thermal imaging camera to ensure the fire was fully extinguished.

She said the excessive rain overnight was believed to have entered the electrical system and that the sows and piglets died due to smoke inhalation.

Firefighters had their equipment decontaminated after the fire was declared a minor asbestos incident.

The spokesman added: “Asbestos and cement sheets had been used for the roof that was involved in the fire.”

n arron.hendy@dorsetecho.co.uk