SHOCKED residents watched as firefighters tackled two “massive” bonfires lit just feet from their properties on Friday evening.

Two large piles of brushwood were set alight on land belonging to Old Sarum Airfield at the rear of houses in Merrifield Road, Ford, at 4.50pm.

Residents say they believed whoever lit the fires had left them unattended, but airfield boss Angus Beale claims he was watching over them.

Merrifield Road resident Cathy Sealey said: “The emergency services were appalled at how close the fires were, how large the fires were and at the irresponsibility of those involved.”

One fire crew from Salisbury attended the incident, hosing down Miss Sealey’s garden shed and damping down the area.

“These fires were lit only an hour before the fire brigade's strike action on a busy night for accidents,” said Miss Sealey. “It goes without saying that residents are deeply shocked at the dangers representatives of the airfield put them, their families and property under.

“The fires were massive. Neighbours the other side of our house saw the flames above our roof.

“We were really worried, they were so ridiculously close to our properties.”

Mr Beale said it was “ludicrous” to suggest the fires were dangerous, and said whoever had called the fire brigade was “vexatious”.

“There was absolutely nothing wrong at all with the two fires,” he said, adding that he was so angry he was “hotter than the fires must have been”.

“This is absolutely ludicrous,” he said.

Mr Beale said he had been asked by the council to deal with some high hedges and had informed the fire service and the police of plans to burn the brushwood, taking “adequate precautions” and carefully measuring the distance from the nearby houses.

“Neighbours were out videoing and shouting at us,” he said, adding that he believed the dispute was really about the “massive potential housing development” of more than 430 homes planned behind their homes.

A spokesman for the fire service said: “Bonfires can get out of control very easily, so we would always urge people to site them well away from buildings, fences, sheds etc. You should always stay with a bonfire, to make sure that it remains safe, and have a garden hose to hand in case the fire does start to spread.”