Grass fire at RAF Spadeadam

Fire crews and RAF personnel are continuing to fight a grassland fire that broke out at RAF Spadeadam, in north east Cumbria, at midday.

It began at around 12:45pm, on part of the range at the RAF base.

The onsite fire crew was the first on the scene, and they were joined by local authority fire services from Cumbria and Northumberland.

RAF personnel were also mobilised, and had to act as beaters to help extinguish the flames, which had grown rapidly.

The scale of the blaze meant that smoke could be seen for miles around, and at its height six external fire crews were involved in fighting it, from three directions.

The fire crews and RAF personnel are continuing to fight the fire.