Peak District moorland fire spread across five hectares

Firefighters were called at midday to the blaze in Derbyshire's East Moorlands, at Big Moor, near Baslow.

A moorland fire which spread to across five hectares of land may be arson, police has said.

Firefighters were called at midday to the blaze in Derbyshire's East Moorlands, at Big Moor near Baslow.

Derbyshire's Rural Crime Team said initial suspicions were it may be deliberate, but it was to early to confirm this.

This follows a deliberate Peak District fire earlier this month.

Incident commander Steve Wells, from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Firefighters worked tremendously hard fighting what is an extremely large area of moorland on fire."

Crews from Dronfield, Chesterfield, Bradwell, Matlock and two crews from Staveley were called to the scene and were assisted by a water carrier from Staveley, a control unit from Buxton, an argocat from Glossop, as well as moorland firefighting equipment from New Mills and a National Trust firefighting team.

Mr Wells tweeted shortly after 19:00 BST to thank crews for their "cracking effort".

The National Trust advised any visitors to stay away from the area for their own safety, and to check for updates on social media.