On Monday afternoon a fire call was received at Rushden by telegram announcing a fire at Podington. The fire bell rang out the alarm soon after four o'clock, and with all possible speed the brigade were called together. Within a short time the manual was on the road, arriving at the village within an hour of the outbreak. It was seen that two wheat stacks belonging to Mr. J. Lovell had caught fire, and, fanned with a stiffish breeze, had complete hold of the ricks. Fortunately, the wind was in the right direction, and carried the flames away from the farm buildings and across the only open space near the stack. The farm hands and villagers did their utmost to cope with the flames, but, the stack being erected on three frames three feet high, had plenty of draught, and nothing could save them. On the arrival of the brigade the men soon got to work, there being a pond and water close at hand, and in a short time had command of the fire. After thoroughly saturating the burning straw the ricks were pulled to pieces. There was a pigstye under one of the rick frames, but it fortunately happened that the pigs were not penned at the time of the outbreak. The stacks contained about 80 quarters of wheat, valued at about £200; but besides this the frames and pigstye were completely demolished, and the damage altogether must have reached about £300. A large number of people cycled out to Podington from Rushden, but the crowd was orderly, and P.C. Bridle, of Rushden, being present, the work of the brigade was not hampered. The cause of the fire is unknown, although there were several wild rumours as to its origin. There is, however, pretty good evidence that lads had been lighting twig fires in the locality, and it is conjectured that one of these thoughtlessly brought the fire too near the ricks. The outbreak was discovered by a woman living in the cottage at the bottom of the farm lane. The firemen present were Messrs. Fred Knight, J.P. (captain), J. T. Colson (engineer), Burgess, C. Green, H. Seckington, G. R. Turner, J. T. Reid, and H. Knight. The ricks were insured.