A GREEN Goddess military fire engine joined part-time fire crews from Herefordshire and mid-Wales to tackle a blaze that destroyed a country house near Hay-on-Wye last night.

Two people and a dog escaped the 80m by 90m country residence, Penyrwrlodd at Llanigon before flames, fed by exploding gas cylinders consumed the three-storey building.

A retained fire crew from Eardisley in Herefordshire joined crews from Hay-on-Wye and Talgarth, and the Green Goddess from Brecon as eight water jets and two breathing apparatuses went into action against the fire.

Water from a private swimming pool on the property, belonging to farmer and political campaigner Captain Edmund Carlisle, was used to douse the flames.