CRIME scene investigators are probing a barn fire that caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage with police also checking three other blazes.

Farmer Brian Lock told how his new £150,000 combine harvester, a tractor, trailer, plough and £10,500 worth of barley straw went up in flames at Lower Burton near Dorchester and praised a former worker for saving one of his tractors from the burning barn.

Residents who were evacuated included a two-week-old baby and other children with one woman being carried over a fence by her neighbour and pushed up a grass hill in her wheelchair.

Mr Lock, who rents the farm from Ilchester Estates, called the fire scene ‘a sorry sight’.

He said: “We’ve got to point the finger at some kind of human intervention – malicious or otherwise.”

Mr Lock praised his former worker George Bennett and apologised to residents.

He said: “George was brilliant.

“Because of his presence of mind he saved one tractor and a hedge cutter.”

Straw can be known to spontaneously combust but as the 700 bales at the back of the barn had been harvested on August 23 Mr Lock said that was ‘extremely unlikely’.

Firefighters managed to save one other tractor.

Due to the rain interrupting the harvest on Wednesday the 2011 number plate harvester was serviced and one of the tractors which were saved had also been used before workers left the site at 5.30pm.

Some residents said they saw teenagers nearby between that time and the fire at 7.30pm.

Shaun Best was at home with his wife three children – a two week old baby girl, two-year-old girl and three-year-old boy.

His fence caught fire and the plastic around his double glazing melted. He said: “It was horrifying – my children were hysterical.”

Neighbour Helen Sargent added: “If it was deliberate it makes you sick.”

Mrs Sargent’s 10-year-old daughter Chloe and her friend Chloe went off to stay with relatives in Dorchester who told them their park home ‘shook’ when what is believed to be tyres exploded in the barn.

The residents had to be evacuated across a field before going to the Sun Inn due to gas cylinders being in another building next to the fire.

Jamie Greenway, 26, carried his neighbour over a fence when they all left.

He said: “I picked her up and jumped over the fence and pushed her up the hill in her wheelchair.

“The way the barn went up was unbelievable. I think it was lit up by somebody.” Incident Commander for Dorset Fire and Rescue Service Clemm Stanley said the investigation into the cause continued yesterday and described the fire as “a scene of devastation.”

His investigation remained difficult as the scene remained cordoned off yesterday.

Jonathan Matthews’s business JM Designs remained unaffected despite being 20 metres from the blaze.

He said: “I was so worried when I heard about it. I hope it’s not arson.”