People who live in the Pelton Fell area near Chester-le-Street are being advised to close their windows and doors as firefighters tackle a large grass fire.
Emergency services were called to land near the Plough Inn at around 3.30pm this afternoon.
Fire is said to be burning on around 5,000 square metres of land.
Read more: Live updates from the scene of major fire in County Durham
County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service’s emergency response group manager Ian Irving said: “Reports of a large grass fire near to the Plough Inn, Pelton Fell came into the control room at approximately 3.30pm this afternoon.
“Currently, four crews from Durham, Consett, Wheatley Hill and Bishop Auckland are tackling the fire which covers approximately five thousand square metres.
“Anyone in the immediate vicinity of the fire is encouraged to close their windows and doors.”
Hot weather is understood to be responsible for the spread of several wildfires across the region today.
Mr Irving added: “At present the service is dealing with multiple incidents across County Durham and Darlington and our control room is also experiencing high volumes of calls.
“We would like to encourage the public to only call 999 if they need immediate assistance or in a genuine emergency.
“We would also encourage everyone to refrain from having garden fires, controlled burns or barbecues in this extreme weather.”
Earlier this week fire chiefs in Tyne and Wear called on their communities to work with them and behave responsibly during the current heatwave.
The Met Office issued an Amber weather warning in some parts of the UK with temperatures due to pass 30C again this week.
A yellow weather warning is in place across Northern England until Saturday.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Peter Heath urged people to be careful of disposing cigarettes and glass bottles.
He said: “Temperatures are not expected to reach the levels that we saw last month but the hot weather comes at a time where things are already tinder dry.
“This presents a serious increase in the chances of fire and rapid fire spread."
Mr Heath said: “Last month we saw a huge surge in calls and attended incidents where relatively small fires had been exacerbated by the heat and led to a much more challenging response.
“We also provided mutual aid to other fire and rescue services who had to declare major incidents where wildfires had completely destroyed homes and property.
“That isn’t something we want to have to deal with here and so we want to ask the public to work with us and behave responsibly during the hot weather.”
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