Updated: FIREFIGHTERS spent four hours tackling a huge blaze which swept across a patch of moorland in York.

The flames spread across a 500-metre stretch of Strensall Common after a controlled burning exercise, designed to burn heather, hit problems.

Fire crews from York were originally called to the scene, near the road leading from Strensall to Flaxton, just before 1pm to make an initial assessment of the scale of the blaze, with additional teams from fire stations at Acomb, Selby and Tadcaster then being drafted in.

As well as dousing the flames with water, squads of beaters were deployed to bring the flames under control. The crews remained at the common for most of the afternoon as smoke billowed across the area. Nobody is believed to have been injured during the fire.