An investigation has been launched after more than 40 firefighters tackled a blaze at a large derelict chicken shed complex.Twelve fire crews from across the county were called to Overa House Farm at Larling, near Thetford, just after 9pm last night .

An investigation has been launched after more than 40 firefighters tackled a blaze at a large derelict chicken shed complex.

Twelve fire crews from across the county were called to Overa House Farm at Larling, near Thetford, just after 9pm last night .

Firefighters tackled the incident for several hours and were still damping down this morning after the blaze destroyed the disused chicken shed complex the size of two football pitches.

Crews had the incident under control by 7am this morning. An investigation will be carried out this morning to try and establish the cause of the fire.

Station manager Duncan Ashworth said: 'The first crews on scene were confronted with a range of timber-framed disused chicken sheds. The complex was around the size of two football pitches made up of sheds approximately 50m x 10m.'

'The fire was inside the shed in question and the crews set to work tackling it from the outside. They did extremely well to contain the fire and keep it to the one shed.

The blaze had threatened to spread to other outbuildings.

Crews from East Harling, Attleborough, Wymondham, Hingham, Diss, Norwich, Hethersett, Thetford, Watton, and Harleston attended as well as a chemical incident unit from Sprowston because of asbestos concerns. The high volume water pump from Thetford was also used.