'Firestarters do not understand impact on farm'
Penshaw PadelPeople who started a fire which ravaged 40 acres (16 hectares) of farmland need to be educated on the consequences of their actions, a farmer has said.
The blaze on Flinton Hill Farm, near Sunderland, on Sunday destroyed about £8,000 worth of straw, according to farmer Tania Tallon.
Tallon said she believed the fire, which saw "months of work" go up in smoke, had been started by children. She said the farm saw anti-social behaviour every week.
Tyne and Wear Fire Rescue Service (TWFRS) said seven fire appliances had been involved in tackling the blaze. Northumbria Police declined to comment.
Tallon said the straw had represented "months of work, time and cost" and had been destroyed in a "matter of minutes".
She said there was anti-social behaviour at the farm, such as motorbikes trampling crops and fly-tipping, on a weekly basis.
Fires were more common in the summer when kids had "nothing to do", she said, adding social media trends which involved setting fire to straw bales may have worsened the problem.
Tallon said when she encountered youngsters on the farm who were doing things they should not be, such as drinking or littering, there was a "lack of respect" and a "lack of care".
Penshaw PadelShe said more needed to be done to educate local children about where their food came from.
"I think there's a really big disconnect with people and where their food comes from these days," she said.
"That disconnect is getting worse and worse and rural crime on farms in becoming worse and worse as a direct result of it."
She said she now planned to remove the remaining straw from the field to remove "any temptation" from local children who might set fire to it.
Tallon is seeking to put in padel courts on a nearbyfarm with the aim to secure the long-term future of it, but has faced some opposition from locals.
TWFRS said it had taken about three and a half hours to put out the fire and that crews left the scene at 17:36 BST.
It comes as firefighters have been tackling wildfires across the country in the recent hot weather, with the government issuing a temporary ban on disposable BBQs and an emergency phone alert on Friday.
