FIREFIGHTERS battled through the night to get a blaze involving hundreds of tonnes of rubbish at a landfill site near Verwood under control.

The fire broke out just before 8pm on Friday at Blue Haze Landfill Site at Verwood Road.

It took a joint effort from firefighters from Hampshire and Dorset to bring the incident under control.

Crews from Ringwood, Burley, Fordingbridge, Lyndhurst, Verwood and Christchurch attended the incident.

A spokesman for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service told the Journal five main pumps were used to tackle the fire in addition to two water carriers.

He said: “The fire involved between 300 to 400 tonnes of household waste.

"We used three water jets to try and keep the fire contained. The site had its own excavators to help turn over the rubbish and help crews get to the fire.”

A “compactor” was also used on site helping clear the waste to assist firefighting efforts.

Group manager Malcolm Freemantle, the officer in charge of the incident, said: “Due to the volume of rubbish involved, this type of incident is inevitably protracted and arduous.

"Our firefighters worked extremely hard, alongside the site owners, in excavating the piles of rubbish and ensuring the fire was prevented from spreading out of control.”

The fire service said the blaze was under control by 2am but crews remained on site to monitor the situation.

A spokesman for Veolia, who lease and operate the site, added: “On the evening of Friday 24 April the emergency services were called to attend a fire at Blue Haze Landfill site. There were no injuries to people or damage to property.

"We take all health and safety issues very seriously and an investigation is ongoing.”

Firefighters were called back to the site just before 5pm on Sunday after reports of a reignition of some rubbish.

The landfill site reopened yesterday (Wednesday).