Firefighters have extinguished a large fire believed to have been started by youths at a County Durham country park.
A large plume of smoke could be seen for miles around at the height of the fire at Waldridge Fell, near Chester-le-Street, on Saturday.
County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service had four appliances at the scene along with a Tactical Response Vehicle and spent three hours tackling the fire.
Watch Manager John Scott said: "Crews were called out shortly after 11am today to a substantial fire on Waldridge Fell. Four pumping appliances from County Durham and Darlington attended the scene.
"The location of the fire was very difficult because we have no access to water down at that point.
"To get to the fire we had to run about about 35 lengths of hose, obviously taking up a considerable part of our resources.
"We believe the fire was started by youths. A couple of members of the public reported seeing youths starting the fire.
"We would reiterate to parents to keep an eye on what their children are doing."
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