FIREFIGHTERS spent a night on the Malvern Hills putting out a grass fire the size of a football pitch.

The fire, cause unknown, took hold of land between the Wyche cutting and Worcestershire Beacon at around 2pm on Tuesday.

More than 100 emergency calls were received about the blaze which, at its height, covered about 6,000 square metres.

Two fire engines, plus the Argocat and Pinzgauer off-road vehicles, from Malvern Fire Station attended.

Three fire engines from Worcester, one from Ledbury and one from Upton were called out as reinforcements. Firefighters were still on-site for most of the next day.

Station commander Jon Pryce said: "We have to be very careful because the fires can go down into the peat."

Ian Rowat, director of Malvern Hills Conservators, also rushed to the scene. He said: "The fire service was excellent. At one point I thought it was going to get out of control when the wind got up and it started to spread up the hill. But they had plenty of water and about 35 firefighters up there."

He said a fire in 2004 had burnt off much of the dead undergrowth, otherwise this blaze could have been worse.

Mr Rowat urged walkers not to take barbecues onto the hills and commons.

Firefighters from Malvern were also called to two grass fires on Monday. They were at Hayslan Green, off Pickersleigh Road, at 3.20pm and at Link Common, near Cockshot Road, at 5.20pm. Both were dealt with swiftly.