Smoke covers A53 as fire crews called to rubber and plastic blaze

Firefighters had to put out a fire involving plastic and rubber in a field near a main road.

The fire near the A53 at Market Drayton, west of the Gingerbread Man pub, led to "a large amount of smoke" pouring onto the main road.

A statement from the town's fire station said: "At 10.22am on Sunday the rescue pump from Market Drayton was mobilised to a report of large quantities of black smoke visible near the A53 at Market Drayton, between the Gingerbread Man roundabout and the Drayton Meadows roundabout.

"On arrival at the scene the crew found a large fire in a field adjacent to the main A53, which involved a quantity of felled trees, plastics and rubber.

"Due to the large amount of smoke affecting the A53, and the nature of the materials that were being burned, the incident commander made the decision that the fire required extinguishing.

"The crew immediately set up two handheld main jets to begin tackling the fire, whilst an assistance message was sent requesting a 4x4 off road capable appliance, and a second major appliance for additional water supplies.

"This led to the incident support unit from Market Drayton and the rescue pump from Hodnet being mobilised in support.

"The crews remained at the scene for approximately two hours extinguishing the fire and damping down.

"Officers from West Mercia Police also attended the scene."