Sarah Sanders, one of the organisers, says the car parks are really filling up.

She says people will be able to find space later but at the moment they are near capacity and they will have to find space elsewhere.

Darrin Abbott, who was born and bred in Ottery St Mary, has travelled from Hawaii to take part in the event.

"This is our Christmas... I wouldn't miss this for the world," he says.

The local library is being used as a safety base at the event.

Supt Int Joe Matthews said police were working with the council, fire and the ambulance service to keep people "as safe as possible".

Director Ash Franks says the event uses St Johns Ambulance Service on board as well as its own medical services.

Darrin Abbott, one of the veterans of the event, says "everything is absolutely controlled".

"One this finishes we'll have a debrief and take a cold hard look at what we've done and what worked well," he says.

Organisers say the historic event is believed to have started after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when a group of English Catholics attempted to kill King James VI.

Andrew Wade, president of the Tar Barrels committee, says there are "lots of ideas of how it first started" but looking back through history, "most of it was to do with 1605 when bonfires and effigies were burnt and barrels were plentiful".

"I think it's more to do with the Gunpowder Plot than anything else," he adds.

Our live stream from the Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels has started.

Soak up all the excitement with BBC Spotlight's Victoria Graham and Erin Black by clicking the live feed above or heading over to iPlayer.

Cameron Weldon
in Ottery St Mary

The party is really getting started here in Ottery St Mary.

This is a rite of passage for local people, especially the younger generation, as they have all seen their family members all taking part previously.

The barrels are pretty heavy and the fact they are on fire makes it significantly harder to carry.

They are only getting heavier as the evening goes on - some of them are absolutely huge.

I don't envy anyone having to pick one of those up.

You may be wondering how people keep themselves safe from the flaming tar barrels being carried above their heads.

The only piece of "specialist" clothing worn for the event are gloves made of heavy sacking.

Andrew Wade, president of the Tar Barrels Committee, says participants sometimes strapped their arms up and may put Vaseline on their face.

He also says people tend to wear the same thing every year.

Join BBC Spotlight's Victoria Graham and Erin Black from 19:00 GMT in Ottery St Mary.

We'll be bringing you a live stream of the event on BBC iPlayer as well as right here on this page.

Hattie McCann
in Ottery St Mary

It's an absolute hive of activity, there's excitement everywhere and there's the barrels - they are on fire out of both ends.

People are laughing, chatting and dodging out of the way of the barrels.

There's one coming towards me right now and someone has added some extra juice to it to make the flames nice and big.

It's just doing laps of the main square and everyone is just enjoying it.

Cameron Weldon
in Ottery St Mary

It's absolutely incredible - a sight to behold.

Young lads with rugby tops on are just grabbing these barrels - all they've got is their hessian gloves on and they're just charging around the town square.

Some of them are running a fair distance with the barrels before putting it down again.

This is a very heavy barrel covered in flames. It is an absolute spectacle.

• There are 11 children's barrels, at regular intervals until the final one at 18:15
• At 18:30 the bonfire will be lit in St Saviour's meadow
• The women's, men's and intermediate barrels begin at 19:00
• There will be 16 barrels through the evening, at regular intervals until the final one, the Midnight Barrel departs from The Square at 23:59

Erin Black
in Ottery St Mary

There are groups of people, locals and visitors alike, streaming in to Ottery St Mary.

It's just started spitting rain but people aren't letting that dampen their spirits.

I was speaking to one of the barrel rollers earlier and he said the weather is irrelevant - they'll go through with it whatever happens.

David Braine
Senior broadcast meterologist

There will be a few showers drifting up from the south this evening until later tonight, with mild light winds.

With all bonfire nights the addition of smoke into the atmosphere will create some mist even some fog patches to watch out for, so those leaving the bonfire and fireworks later this evening might find the visibility quite poor.

Petra Brown runs a barber shop in the town and plays the important role of cutting the hair of participants after taking part.

"Sometimes the barrels might leak and the tar actually gets on their hair," she says.

"They often have a lot of burns on their ears and blisters on the back of their necks."

The Ottery St Mary resident of 35 years says she "absolutely loves" the event despite the danger.

"When you hear the cannons go off in the morning, it's like Christmas Day to us," she says.

"It's just the most exciting time of the year and it makes me so proud."

Image source, Getty Images

Today the barrels are gathered from cider and wine makers across the country and the inside is coated with tar to help control the burn time.

The barrels contain a mixture of paper and straw which is then set alight.

Andrew Wade, president of the Tar Barrels Committee, says: "Someone who is doing the heating of the barrel will decide when it's ready and off they go, they pick it up, run around and pass it to each other.

"What used to happen was individual pubs would provide a barrel on November 5, people would go in there have a few ciders, light the barrel up and run up and down outside the pub.

"All the areas are slightly different now because of crowd control, but generally the locations are based on the traditional pub names."

• Event stewards and barrel marshals wearing high visibility vests and jackets are keeping crowd control
• Organisers are asking parents not bring pushchairs and are strongly advised not to bring children after 19:00 when the adult runs take place
• Organisers urged people not to run away from any barrels as they are carried down the street as this could cause crowd surges
• As barrels approach, people are asked to take a step back and lean away from them
• Spectators are also asked to not touch the lit barrels as they pass

We'll be bringing you a live video stream as the main events get under way.

Join Spotlight's Victoria Graham and Erin Black on BBC iPlayer or right here on this page from 19:00 GMT.

Mike Downs has been setting up his pub, The Volunteer Inn, which is where all the tar barrels are stored.

He says it is an "absolute privilege" to be one of 60 men rolling the barrels tonight

In previous years he has suffered small burns but he says it is just "something you have to put up with".

Mr Downs says the barrels come in varying sizes and you can smell tar as soon as the pub's doors open.

"That is the one smell we as rollers love," he says.