FIRE crews from across three counties were called to battle a huge fire at an Oxfordshire landfill site at the weekend.

Firefighters from Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire spent hours fighting the blaze which took hold of 400 tonnes of waste at the landfill just outside of Finmere in the north of the county.

Dramatic footage taken by firefighters shows the scale of the raging fire which could be seen from five miles away.

Crews from Bicester, Buckingham, Banbury, Bletchley and Brackley were first on the scene at around 10.15pm on Saturday.

Firefighters pumped water from a nearby lake to dampen the flames.

Crews from Witney, Deddington and Burford relieving the initial responders at around 3:30am. 

On Saturday afternoon crews in Bicester said they had been hoping for a quieter evening after being called to a field fire at Upper Heyford just hours earlier.

Bicester Advertiser:

The fire was sparked by a fallen cable.

Crews had to work quickly after the fire spread in high winds with flames reaching up to five metres high, according to eye witnesses.

The blaze sent plumes of thick black smoke billowing into the air, and left a large section of the field scorched.

The fallen cable also left a number of residents without electricity.

Once the main fire had been extinguished farmers worked with crews to damp down the edges.

Bicester Advertiser:

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service recently urged the public to be its ‘eyes on the ground’ as field fires continue to ravage the county’s desiccated countryside during the ongoing heatwave.

It is urging the public to be on the look-out with all grass verges including railway embankments at risk and blazes able to start from next to nothing.

Residents are urged to call 999 as soon as they spot a wild fire with the number of such incidents.