Three hundred bales of burning straw had to be extinguished yesterday (Monday) when fire broke out at Oaklands College in St Albans.

A spokeswoman for St Albans fire station said that firefighters were called to the College’s Smallford campus on Hatfield Road at 2.24pm.

She said they had to drag bales off a farm trailer to break up the load and help extinguish the blaze. They remained on site until 4.12pm.

A college spokeswoman said that no students or animals had to be evacuated as the straw caught alight near the old greenhouses, away from classrooms and the on-site animal centre.

A spokeswoman for Herts Police said that while officers had been alerted to the fire, they were not investigating as it was not considered suspicious.