FIRE crews were forced to form an exclusion zone in Radley Common on Wednesday following a large blaze.

Firefighters were called at 6.40pm after residents noticed a fire on land at the Woodside Farm in Houghton Green.

When they arrived at the scene they found that a shed had been torched with dangerous cylinders inside it.

A spokesman said: "The owner of the farm has had his shed destroyed and a number of lives were put in danger by these irresponsible youths.

"When we got there we judged that

because of the cylinders, we had to put a 200metre exclusion zone up because those things act like a bomb."

The fire, which spread from the shed to the open space surrounding it, took around three hours to bring under control and fire crews feared that it could have been even more serious than it turned out to be for people living nearby.

The crews took a while fighting the fire after it spread out beyond the shed on the site.

Firemen said they suspect youths broke into the shed and then deliberately set it ablaze.