DISAPPOINTMENT has been expressed following a fire at the ‘heart of an airfield’ at Davidstow.

Assisted by crews from Launceston Community Fire Station, firefighters from Delabole Community Fire Station were called to Davidstow Airfield at 11.15am last Tuesday morning to reports of a blaze in a former control tower.

On arrival, the crew came across a large number of tyres that had been set alight inside the building. Three breathing apparatus and two hose reel jets were used to extinguish the fire.

Many took to social media to express their disappointment after it was thought the fire was caused by an act of vandalism.

Steve Perry, from the Cornwall at War Museum, at Davidstow, said: “A control tower is the symbolic heart of an airfield. Davidstow control tower stands watching over the runways as it has done since 1942 as a reminder to us all of what happened here. Although now semi-derelict, its heart still beats as it is still used by the military on exercises.

“How sad to think that to some people, it is little more than a rubbish dump or incinerator.”