North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue ServiceFirefighters deal with their unfair share of arsonists, but how many can say they’ve been called to a blaze started by a pig?
Crew from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to the unusual fire, after a hungry little pig swallowed a pedometer, which later caught fire after passing through the pig’s rear end.
The emergency services were called to the fire, which was covering 75 square metres, across four different pigpens in Bramham, near Leeds, at around 2pm on Saturday, March 7.
13:37 Should be an oink not a tweet. Tadcaster and Knaresbororough firecrews attended a fire to 4 pigpens near Bramham. No pigs harmed. Cause of fire attributed to a battery powered pedometer carried by one of the pigs (to prove it was free-range), which was eaten by the other1/2
— North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service (@NorthYorksFire) March 7, 2020
Firefighters who attended the scene said the blaze was caused by ‘nature taking its course’ as copper from the pedometer battery reacted to the dry hay lying in the pigpen.
The pedometer had belonged to one of the pigs and was being used to prove the animal was free range, before it was eaten by the unsuspecting pig.
Fortunately, none of the pigs living in the pens were harmed by the fire, accidentally started by one of their own.
— Russell Jenkinson (@russjenks999) March 7, 2020
Sharing the bizarre incident on Twitter, the fire service wrote:
Should be an oink not a tweet.
Tadcaster and Knaresbororough fire crews attended a fire to four pigpens near Bramham. No pigs harmed.
Cause of fire attributed to a battery powered pedometer carried by one of the pigs (to prove it was free-range), which was eaten by the other pigs.
After nature had taken its course, it’s believed that the copper from the batteries reacted with the pigpens contents and in conjunction with dry bedding, ignited burning approximately 75square metres of hay.
A hosereel was used to extinguish the fire and save the bacon.
— Russell Jenkinson (@russjenks999) March 7, 2020
The people of North Yorkshire were, of course, hugely relieved to discover the firefighters had successfully saved the bacon, with one tweeting: ‘North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service knows how to bring the bacon home, well done lads!’
Another joked: ‘The cause must have come as a sowprise. Your job certainly isn’t boaring.’
Thank goodness they didn’t make a pig’s ear of it!
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.