Workers at the National Fire Service Training College say the damage would have been much less serious if the ­building had been equipped with ­sprinklers.

“We are always told that large commercial buildings should have sprinklers but it seems the fire college did not practise what it preaches,” said one worker who did not want to be named.

The fire broke out in the large ­workshop at the College in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, early on ­Saturday. Almost 60 firefighters from Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire raced to the college but were unable to save 11 of the 12 elderly fire engines stored in the single storey workshops.

A Gloucestershire fire service ­spokesman said: “The building was well alight but the fire was brought under control without injury and without it spreading to any other buildings. The building contained 12 fire engines, 1,200 litres of diesel fuel and 500 litres of hydraulic oil.”