THE owner of a farm which was the scene of a suspected multiple arson attack has told how she risked her life to save her horses from a burning building.

Fire investigation officers are currently scouring Huddleston Grange, near South Milford, as they try to establish how blazes started in three separate hay stacks and a barn, destroying articulated trailers, a jeep and almost killing two horses.

Yesterday, areas of the farm were cordoned off by North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, amid concerns that the fire-damaged building would collapse.

Alison Midgley, who lives at the remote smallholding with her two sons, said she came from a night out with a friend at about 10pm on Sunday to discover the blaze. She said: “We left the pub at about a-quarter-to-ten and as I looked across the hills to Sherburn I just said ‘my farm’s on fire’.

“I called 999 and told them they would need more than one fire engine and then I realised it was the building where my two horses were.”

Luckily, Miss Midgley and her 14-year-old son were able to lead the horses to safety, but the flames destroyed a jeep which was parked in the 30-metre barn.

“If I hadn’t come back when I did, the horses would have been burned,” she said. “Me and my son risked our lives trying to get them out.”

With no insurance, Mrs Midgley believes she is looking at a bill of thousands.

“I have lost my jeep and a lot of straw and my trailers. It’s about £15,000 and that’s without the buildings.”

Colin Hunter, station manager and fire investigator, said: “It’s very, very unusual to have that number of fires scattered about one location.

“There were three separate fires nearby – two of those were bales of hay on trailers and one was five tonnes of straw next to a barn.”

Fire engines from Selby, Tadcaster and Garforth, in West Yorkshire, were called in to bring the fire under control and officers pumped water from a nearby pond.

Watch manager Barry Martland, who was at the scene, said: “You could see it for miles. The fact that there were four seats of fire made it quite unusual.”

Anyone with information on the fire is asked to phone North Yorkshire Police on 0845 60 60 247.