Firefighters called to blaze at illegal waste dump

Firefighters have been called to a fire at an illegal waste dump in Gloucestershire.

The fire at the privately-owned, unregistered waste site at Over, Gloucester, was reported at just after 09:00 BST on Thursday.

Rob Chamberlayne, who farms land neighbouring the site, said smouldering plumes seen on Wednesday had grown bigger overnight and caused "horrible" smoke that smelled "like burning plastic".

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service said a crew sent to the scene put out a 60 square metre area, which had been alight when firefighters arrived.

Chamberlayne said they had been making hay on Wednesday when they noticed "a little bit of smouldering" from the adjacent land.

He said he did not think anything of it at first because he had been aware of the pile of waste on the site smouldering "on and off for about a year".

A fire service spokesperson said: "We were called at 09.03 BST to reports of waste on fire at Over.

"We sent one fire engine from Gloucester North to put it out".

The spokesperson added that firefighters left the scene shortly after 10:10 BST.

Chamberlayne described the site, which is visible from his farmland, as "a horrible environmental catastrophe".

"The extent of this dump is huge, it's at least 100m long.

"And goodness knows how deep it is, and how many tonnes of rubbish have been dumped there over the years.

"It's quite extraordinary really."

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