A community rallying together in rural England to help put out a fire on a neighbour's farm has sparked innovation within their local fire service, to ensure a similar situation doesn't happen again.

Stacey Branson, a farm adviser with non-departmental public body Natural England, was carrying out her day-to-day tasks on her family farm in Cambridgeshire when her husband, Matt got a phone call about a fire ablaze in a neighbour's wheat field.

Stacey recalled: "The wind was changing direction and flames were now heading towards the tinder dry woodland next to our farm and home."

Thinking on their feet, Stacey's husband and father-in law set out on tractors with cultivators to help create a fire break, whilst Stacey phoned anyone she thought could help.

The most important assistance other than the fire service came from a plea for help on a local WhatsApp group called ‘Cambridgeshire Countryside Watch’, which had around 190 members.

Stacey explained that the fire service struggled to get water to the field due to the distance of the nearest working hydrant, which was over 2 miles away.

This meant the fire service had to create a shuttle moving 2,000L of water per fire engine each trip.

However, when news of the fire spread, the rural community of Cambridgeshire came to help. 

Stacey described how local farmers turned up in tractors to offer their assistance with cultivators and water bowsers, a straw baling contractor brought leaf blowers, and countless other people showed up with fire beaters, some of whom Stacey still does not even know who they were.

She said: "It was a huge relief to see our community come together, and I am eternally grateful for those who dropped everything to help prevent the fire spreading."

Stacey also explained that while her farm had rainwater harvesting tanks that held ten times the amount the fire service shuttle could carry, the fire engines did not have a way to connect to them, so 20,000L of water laid idle, unable to be used while the fire spread.

After the fire, Stacey contacted her friend Chelsey McKimmie, a fire officer at the local station, and together, they spent two years trying to get a project connecting fire engines to rainwater tanks off the ground.

After testing and researching for the project, they trialled a prototype of their newly made fitting by connecting Stacey's rainwater harvesting tanks to one of the fire engines from the local station.

To their delight, the fitting successfully drew water from the tanks, at the right pressure and without the tank collapsing.

With a working prototype, they were able to kick-start a partnership project working alongside the National Farmers' Union (NFU), Cambridgeshire Fire Service, and colleagues across Natural England.

Together, the group was able to draw on expertise from the local farming community and stakeholders to begin a local trial mapping rural sources of water, such as Stacey's rainwater harvesting tanks.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue now carry adaptors on their front-line fire appliances, so they can use the sprayer hoses that are attached to most rainwater tanks to tap into them as an emergency water source.

If the trial is successful, Stacey hopes it will lead to a national roll-out and eventually, all rainwater tanks will be on mobile data terminals in the fire engines, so when they are looking for a hydrant, local tanks will pop up as an icon.

The project has also served as an opportunity for Natural England and farm advice colleagues to promote the environmental benefits of rainwater harvesting.

These tanks can be invaluable to farms in times of drought, which became more prevalent recently with summer 2025 being the warmest on record for UK and Ireland.

Rainwater harvesting can also offer the following benefits to farmers and land managers:

Provide a reliable water source if supply is cut off in periods of drought or low pressure;
Improve local water quality and reduce slurry volumes by separating clean and dirty water in the yard;
Prevent soil erosion and loss of nutrients by reducing runoff;
Slow the flow into local water bodies, helping flood mitigation;
Save money on bills by using them to water livestock, spray crops, and wash equipment with clean and safe water.

Stacey said: "I really hope this trial with the Cambridgeshire Fire Service, Natural England and NFU will encourage mores farms to install rainwater harvesting tanks."

"It’s great for businesses, the local environment, and in the event of a fire it could ultimately save farms, livestock, crops, wildlife, local habitat and lives."