FIREFIGHTERS from Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire joined forces to tackle a blaze at Long Marston on Tuesday morning.

Fire broke out in a scrap metal processing unit at Sims Metals, formerly Birds Metals, near Long Marston airfield at about 6.15am.

Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade press officer Alec Mackie said: "We had a call at about 6.16am and we had a stop message back from the firefighters in charge at 8.30am, so it took them about two and a quarter hours to bring it under control."

Local residents were woken by nine fire crews from the three counties racing to the site, which is near Pebworth.

Mr Mackie said so many were called to the scene as a precaution in case there were any chemicals on site, but the area was safe.

He said the yard was mainly used for storing scrap metal, such as old railway carriages, before it was processed and the fire damaged the scrap, equipment and part of a portable building.

Firefighters from the nearby station at Pebworth were joined by two appliances from Stratford, one each from Bidford, Chipping Campden and Broadway and a fire engine and off road appliance from Evesham.

Terry Bird, of Sims Metals, said: "The fire was in one of our processing plants used to grind down scrap metal. It wasn't a big fire, but the police wanted to isolate the area just in case, which was why there were so many fire crews called.

"There were no chemicals on site as it was just our reprocessing yard. It has put our processing unit out of action for now."

The cause of the fire is not yet known and fire officers were investigating this week.

Mr Bird added: "At the moment we are assessing the full extent of the damage and making sure everything is safe. We don't know how the fire started, but will be conducting an investigation ourselves too."